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Apple acquires location data collection startup Mapsense for $25 million

Apple is no stranger to acquiring companies to bolster its Apple Maps offering and now it appears that the company has acquired yet another company to do just that. According to a report out of Re/code, Apple today has acquired Mapsense, a San Francisco-based startup that focused on building software that analyzed and visualized location data.

Mapsense was founded in 2013 by a former engineer for Palantir Technologies, Erez Cohen. The company’s cloud-based service allows users to divide up graphical models of maps that store large amounts of data for easier digestion. Mapsense launched its developer platform in May and opened its doors to financial, advertising, government, and Fortune 500 institutions. Mapsense has raised $2.5 million in seed funding from a variety of backers.

While collecting location data has become mainstream, the traditional tools to visualize, understand, and harness it have been hampered by the speed and scale of this massive and complex new datasource.  Mapsense’s platform and developer tools help organizations quickly ingest and analyze billions of rows of location data to make more intelligent, locally targeted business decisions across the organization.

Apple reportedly paid between $25 million and $30 million for Mapsense’s 12-person staff. Apple, however, has yet to specifically confirm the acquisition. In a statement, rather, a spokesperson for the Apple said, “Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans.”

Since the launch of Apple Maps, Apple has acquired a variety of startups to bolster its own offering. In 2013, Apple acquired transit mapping startup HopStop. iOS 9, of course, adds transit mapping into the default Maps app and it was revealed earlier this week that HopStop will be shut down next month. Other mapping acquisitions Apple has made over the years include BroadMap, Catch, Coherent, C3 Technologies, and Metaio.

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Comments

  1. applegetridofsimandjack - 9 years ago

    I hope this acquisition will allow/help Apple to improve the accuracy of apps using location data. Like location based reminders. I very often set location based reminders like

    ‘Remind me to take my cad drawings when I leave home’
    I will only get the notification reminding me not to forget my cad drawings when I’m already 2km away from home. This is absolutely laughable, I thought motion processors like the M7 were going to improve location accuracy. I should’ve gotten that notification when I was on my way to the bus station or while I was waiting for the bus at the station…
    Besides I always set the geofence as accurate as can be, meaning the smalles geofence option there is.

    I’ve stopped using location based reminders for a little over a year now, it was an awesome feature when it was announced in iOS5 but it’s completely useless.

    • Nycko Heimberg - 9 years ago

      applegetridofsimandjack, ;-)
      It is not THE only “Fail” of Apple….
      Apple Pay in Europe?
      iOs 8 with 11 updates
      Os 2 for Watch ……

Author

Avatar for Chance Miller Chance Miller

Chance is an editor for the entire 9to5 network and covers the latest Apple news for 9to5Mac.

Tips, questions, typos to chance@9to5mac.com