Via Android Community
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If you’re a fan of Google’s augmented reality astronomy app Google
Sky Map, I’ve got good news and bad news for you. Google announced that major development on the app has ended,
so there will be no more major official releases from the company. On
the plus side, they’ve decided to release the open-source code for Sky
Map, so given enough developer interest it should be around for quite
some time.

Sky Map started as one of Google’s famous 20% projects, which six of
its employees launched by working in their company-sponsored spare time.
The application was one of Android’s first showpiece apps, combining
basic astronomical data overlaid on a smartphone camera to easily
identify constellations, planets and other heavenly bodies by simply
pointing the phone towards the sky. The free app has been downloaded
over 10 million times from the Android Market.
Google is working with Carnegie Melon University so that its students
can continue direct development. The company didn’t say if direct
updated with computer scientist students’ code would make it into the
android Market, but it’s a pretty safe bet. If you’ d like to give it a
try for yourself, you can download the open-source code here.
I fully expect a Star Trek themed version of Sky Map in the next few
weeks which will allow me to view the Alpha Quadrant from my smartphone –
get to it, devs.