Nokia bought a U.S-based location services firm called MetaCarta late last week, a Massachusetts company that develops various geographic and location technologies. Nokia’s Ovi Maps is considered one of the better turn-by-turn navigation systems out there, and this acquisition will surely help Nokia maintain that technological edge, and better it in times to come.
MetaCarta is a small company, and currently has just 30 people working for it, providing solutions to “bridge the gap between content and maps”. The deal will allow Nokia to benefit from MetaCarta’s proprietary technologies, such as MetaCarta Platform, Geographic Data Modules, GeoWeb Applications, and Hosted Content Collections.
MetaCarta also has a partnership with Microsoft, who uses its Geographic Search and Referencing Platform in its Microsoft Vine service.
MetaCarta’s solutions enable companies to bridge the gap between content and maps. Its products fall into four major categories: the MetaCarta Platform, Geographic Data Modules, GeoWeb Applications, and Hosted Content Collections.
This is apparently the second such acquisition of a small company in Nokia’s recent past, the first being Novarra, a web browser company. Check out MetaCarta’s website to get a better idea of the services they offer.