Apple has reportedly acquired Locationary, a crowdsourced service that can manage databases of locations, merge duplicate information, and remove outdated entries.
It uses crowdsourcing and a federated data exchange platform called Saturn to collect, merge and continuously verify a massive database of information on local businesses around the world, solving one of location’s biggest problems: out-of-date information.
Not only does Locationary ensure that business listing data is positionally accurate (IE: the restaurant I searched for is where Apple said it would be), it ensures that it is temporally accurate as well (IE: the restaurant I searched for is still open for business and not closed for renovation or shuttered entirely).
Apple spokesmanSteve Dowling confirmed the deal to John Paczkowski of AllThingsD. The deal is said to include the Toronto based company’s technology and personnel. The price of the acquisition has not been announced.
Small acquisitions such as this one are typical for Apple. The company tends to avoid huge, blockbuster deals, instead targeting smaller companies that offer unique services.
Locationary manages the type of data that can help Apple in its quest to boost its Maps service and app with up to date information. Locationary’s “Saturn” data exchange platform should allow it to eliminate out of date information, a capability that could give Apple Maps a leg up on competitor Google’s Maps services.
Locationary’s website states it currently has 175 million customer profiles under management.
