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The Google barges are a group of four floating barges built between 2010 and 2012, commissioned by Google to serve as "an interactive space where people can learn about new technology",〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Google Says Its Mystery Barges May Be Used As Interactive Space Where People Can Learn About Its Technology )〕〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Google's mysterious secret barges off US coasts: THE TRUTH )〕〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Google ends mystery: barge to be 'interactive space' )〕 possibly as luxury showrooms for Google Glass and other products on an invitation-only basis. As of March 2014, two of the barges are docked in the Port of Stockton in Stockton, California after being forced to leave the San Francisco Bay. Another barge, formerly docked in Portland, Maine, was reported in August 2014 to have been sold.〔 Two of the barges (one San Francisco barge and the former Portland barge) have or had a superstructure consisting of four stories of modern shipping containers welded together. Most of these containers have small slits that may serve as windows. Each superstructure had a container that slants down to ground level at a shallow angle. CBS sources claimed that the first three floors were intended to serve as a showroom, while the upper floor was designated as a party deck.〔 The San Francisco structure has poles at the top that may be antennas, and was described as eventually being decorated with gigantic sails, and being moved among sites in the San Francisco Bay Area as a "temporary technology exhibit space" to "drive visitation to the waterfront".〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Google barge mystery unfurled )〕 The other two barges are owned by the same corporation (set up by Google) but do not have a superstructure. Google may have built the structures on barges to avoid mandatory city building permits and public plans that may disclose their purpose.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Google’s Secrecy Surrounding Barge May Backfire )〕 == Timeline == The earliest revealed barge, ''BAL0011'', was built in 2011 and was first spotted in New London, Connecticut, where Turner Construction started construction of the superstructure in May 2013, according to ''The Day''. Another barge of identical size was docked behind it, but no superstructure was visible, and workers hadn't been there in several weeks. The local Coast Guard refused to provide additional information on the barge, which led ''The Day'' to file a FOIA request with the Coast Guard for documents on the project. On July 1, 2013, Coast Guard Sector Long Island Sound held a conference call with Michael Tierney of Google Glass, where it was described that the vessel would travel from port to port, starting with New York Harbor. The containers had been shipped from San Francisco to be assembled in New London. On October 9, 2013, ''BAL0011'' was tugged to Portland, Maine, where it arrived the next day. As described by the ''Portland Press Herald'', the superstructure is 4 containers long, wide and high, with one slanted container for access, for a total of 63 containers. Each of the upper three floors has doors at each end. Looking through some of the windows reveals windows on the other side, which suggests open interior space created by removing container walls. Cianbro Corp., a general services contractor, was scheduled to perform "a significant amount of interior work, including the installation of undisclosed technological equipment" on the structure, without offloading it from the barge. Peter Vigue, chairman and CEO of Cianbro, refused to discuss any details, but stated that the final destination of the barge was not Maine. On October 25, CNET reporter Daniel Terdiman chronicled his visit to Treasure Island, San Francisco, a former U.S. Navy base, where a very similar barge (''BAL0010'') was moored, and where a construction facility called Hangar 3 is located.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Hangar 3 )〕 Satellite imagery showed shipping containers being amassed at Hangar 3, and later moved onto a floating barge moored alongside the adjacent pier. Terdiman uncovered the link to ''By And Large LLC'' (a possible reference to "Buy N Large", the fictional mega-corporation in the 2008 film ''WALL-E'', or simple rhyming slang for "barge"〔), a dummy company set up by Google. ''By And Large'' leased a total of 727,000 sq. ft for /month plus a security deposit.〔 A few hours later, Terdiman also linked the San Francisco barge to the Portland barge, identified as ''BAL0011''. On the same day, KPIX-TV/CBS cited sources close to Google claiming the barge would be a "marketing center for Google Glass" and once completed, would be towed to Fort Mason and open to public access. However, construction had stopped several weeks previously due to a lack of permits. A San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission official (later identified in a video interview as executive director Larry Goldzband), was quoted as saying that Google discussed "hypothetical operations" but hadn't stated the exact purpose of the barge, which is necessary for the issuance of a permit for waterfront docking. On October 30, CNBC's Josh Lipton reported that the Coast Guard confirmed the structure is associated with Google, but wouldn't comment further.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Google’s mystery barge causes stir in San Francisco )〕 Other US Coast Guard Sector San Francisco officials confirmed and later retracted〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Coast Guard confirms Google involvement in mystery barge )〕 the Google connection, while confirming that the Coast Guard did visit the Treasure Island barge.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Coast Guard Statement Regarding Barge BAL0010 )〕 On October 31, a Fort Mason official confirmed that Google had held initial discussions on docking a floating barge at a pier there. On November 6, 2013, Google commented for the first time, sending an email statement to several news outlets stating,〔〔〔 The next day, the ''San Francisco Chronicle'' published a set of documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act from the Port of San Francisco, which confirm the use of the Treasure Island barge as a "temporary technology exhibit space" by ''By and Large LLC''.〔 Google envisioned it to be an "unprecedented artistic structure", adorned with gigantic sails, to be moored for a month at a time at sites around the San Francisco Bay Area to "drive visitation to the waterfront". Later, the barge would be sailed to San Diego and other West Coast ports. The design was done by Gensler and LOT-EK.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Google barges」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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