Google on Tuesday announced it is buying Skybox Imaging, a satellite imaging company that could help the Web giant improve its maps.

"Skybox's satellites will help keep Google Maps accurate with up-to-date imagery," Google said in a news release. "Over time, we also hope that Skybox's team and technology will be able to help improve Internet access and disaster relief — areas Google has long been interested in."

Based in Google's hometown of Mountain View, Calif., Skybox started out five years ago with the goal to "revolutionize access to information about the changes happening across the surface of the Earth," the company said in a blog post. Skybox built and launched what it calls the "world's smallest high-resolution imaging satellite," which collects images and video of the earth.

"The time is right to join a company who can challenge us to think even bigger and bolder, and who can support us in accelerating our ambitious vision," Skybox said. "Skybox and Google share more than just a ZIP code. We both believe in making information (especially accurate geospatial information) accessible and useful. And to do this, we're both willing to tackle problems head on — whether it's building cars that drive themselves or designing our own satellites from scratch."

Google said it will pay $500 million in cash to acquire Skybox. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including U.S. regulatory approvals.

The acquisition comes about a week after the Wall Street Journal reported that Google would shell out more than $1 billion for a fleet of satellites that will orbit the Earth in an effort to provide Internet access in under-served areas.

In April, meanwhile, Google also bought Titan Aerospace, a company that makes solar-powered, near-orbital drones that can fly for about five years nonstop. The Titan team is working with Google's Project Loon, a venture that provides Web connections to underserved areas via high-flying balloons.