Google has finalized its acquisition of Waze, developer of a crowdsourced mapping app, with the goal of expanding its location-based and social maps offerings while providing users with a way to outsmart traffic. Israel-based Waze has a worldwide user base of about 50 million people who log in to access or submit real-time navigational data, using the app for tasks like finding the quickest route to a nearby hospital or alerting other users to an accident or a police speed trap. Google reportedly paid about $1.3 billion for the startup.
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Google's Waze Grab Is About a Lot More Than Defense
Posted by: Rachelle Dragani June 12, 2013 03:20 PMGoogle has finalized its acquisition of Waze, developer of a crowdsourced mapping app, with the goal of expanding its location-based and social maps offerings while providing users with a way to outsmart traffic. Israel-based Waze has a worldwide user base of about 50 million people who log in to access or submit real-time navigational data, using the app for tasks like finding the quickest route to a nearby hospital or alerting other users to an accident or a police speed trap. Google reportedly paid about $1.3 billion for the startup.