Apple has acquired location data company Locationary, which provides data on local businesses around the world. Not just an acqui-hire, Locationary’s technology will also be used by Apple in an effort to improve Apple’s mapping efforts. Locationary uses crowdsourced data to continually update and maintain an accurate database of information about businesses, which Apple would find incredibly useful, says All Things D
Not only does Locationary ensure that business listing data is positionally accurate (i.e., the restaurant I searched for is where Apple said it would be), it ensures that it is temporally accurate as well (i.e., the restaurant I searched for is still open for business and not closed for renovation or shuttered entirely).
A lack of data for points of interest, especially of businesses, was one of the many criticisms of Apple Maps when it launched last fall. Locationary’s team and technology should not only help Apple correct errors or fill in blanks, but help them do so quickly, and make any future changes rapidly as well. People use Maps, along with apps connected it, to find new and interesting places around them, like a new restaurant that they’ve been wanting to try. Having up-to-date, accurate information is essential for the Maps’ long-term prospects, and Apple seems to be doing everything they can to not only improve what they already have, but to make sure that what they add is accurate as well.
How are Apple Maps working for you these days?
Source: All Things D
