A two year old start up going by the name Urban Engines has been purchased by Google, and it is now incorporated into the location based analytics which are used at Google Maps.
In a blog post which detailed the acquisition, Urban Engines wrote that the issue of location analytics was something that was of fundamental value to both Google and Urban Engines. The new partnership was exciting as it would be a way to help people understand how the world moves, the company further detailed.
As various other companies and rivals such as Apple and Uber have been advancing their own mapping capabilities, Google has been looking at ways to improve its own service in a move to ward of competition.
The leader of the Google Maps team, Jen Fitzpatrick, said that the group was trying to improve the mapping options by providing a rich, deep and detailed understanding of the real world that ever existed. This would mean also including the rich data that start ups such as Urban Engines have been collecting and analyzing. The company also said that their customers ranged from the Americas, Asia, Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
In their blog post, the company also said that with the rise of sensors in the smartphones and cars and transit, the age of Internet of Moving Things was well and truly here. It said that they had the potential to improve the lives of most of its commuters after learning from their commuters’ behavior patterns, and reshaping the congestion and also creating some new consumer services in the minute mile region. The company said the ability and potential to improve people’s lives was something that was truly remarkable and incredible.
Google is looking to further improve its mapping capabilities after Uber recently announced they would be releasing their own mapping cars in London so that they could look at ways to start mapping with their own technology. Apple also announced improvements to its mapping app exclusively available on its iPhone and iPad devices, with its recent iOS 10 update.
