Revealed: What's Happening on Those Secret Google-Owned Barges

Secretive, Google-owned barges at opposite ends of the United States piqued the world's interest this week, but now some answers about their intended purpose may have emerged.

A barge under construction is docked at a pier on Treasure Island on Oct. 30, 2013 in San Francisco. (Getty Images/Justin Sullivan)

KPIX-TV reported a source familiar with the project said the barge in the San Francisco Bay will house "dazzling showrooms" and a "party deck" to market the tech giant's products, like Google Glass. Visitors will be allowed on board by invitation only.

Watch KPIX-TV's report on the mystery barge:

The U.S. Coast Guard said in a statement Thursday that its personnel have inspected the barge moored at Treasure Island to ensure compliance with various regulations. The Coast Guard was unable to reveal details regarding what it saw on the barge because it said it has an obligation to protect sensitive proprietary information.

Mystery barges with construction of shipping containers have appeared in San Francisco and Portland, Maine, prompting online rumors that the barges are affiliated with a Google project. (Getty Images/Justin Sullivan)

There is a similar barge now in Portland, Maine, that was at one point earlier this month located in Connecticut's New London harbor.

Connecticut's The Day reported documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request revealed the barge is intended to travel from place to place.

And there could be two more structures out there somewhere. The barges registered with a Delaware corporation as BAL0001, BAL0010, BAL0011 and BAL0100. In binary code used in computing, the numbers spell out "one," ''two," ''three" and "four." Currently, Nos. 1 and 2 are on the water in San Francisco and No. 3 is in Portland Harbor.

It is unclear whether all the barges will be used as exclusive showrooms, as the source said of San Francisco's floating structure.

More and more people are being invited to join the Google Glass Explorer Program, the user testing phase of Google's futuristic glasses. This week the Glass Accessory Store opened with many criticizing the cost of an extra earbud or charger.

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