U.S. Military: Google maps, street view played huge role in locating bin Laden

Islamabad, Pakistan--A day after a U.S. military operation killed the most sought-after terrorist in the world those involved in the intricate coordination of the secret mission say maps and images that civilians use daily were the difference maker. "If I wasn't able to access google maps and then street view there's no way that we would have been able to virtually tour through the seedy streets of Islamabad and its seedier outskirts. We've been clicking, dragging, scrolling and zooming for the last several years and then, finally, I panned the view around to look at the buildings along one particular road and boom ... the bin Laden compound," said Lt. Francis L. Halsen, commander of the raid. "Google had blurred out many of the faces near the compound, but under a military request provided the non-blurred images and the rest, as they say, is history."