I am surprised that this is news. Google has done US government work for a long time. After 9/11 the newly formed homeland security wanted pictures and accurate data in regards to residential addresses in the US. At first they went to the credit bureaus and data brokers to collect and store this information due to the fact they already had researchers on the ground collecting data. Google came along with Google earth and not long after that Google street view. Think about how long it was before they where able to actually monetize google earth & maps. They perfected the art of geodata collection and was likely paid for via government grants [0] and contracts. Even today they sell access to different government agencies[1].