The data centre Apple is building in Maiden, North Carolina, has finally shown up on Google Maps.
Fortune reports that the 500,000 square foot server farm has only just appeared in Google’s satellite imagery, despite having been under construction since 2009, it is believed.
The plant appears to have a single road leading in, another leading out, and very little parking space. It is thought that the facility will provide storage space for the forthcoming iCloud service, which Apple will unveil next week at WWDC.
But there is also some interest as to why the facility has only just shown up on Google Maps. The Fortune report questions just how imagery – provided by the USDA Farm Services Agency – showing the plant was unavailable until Apple first mentioned iCloud. It suggests that there could have been some kind of deal in place between Apple and Google not to show images of the plant.
Apple has been buying up large amounts of storage space in recent months, so the iCloud announcement was hardly a surprise, though precise details of what iCloud will be are still unclear.
