Tech giant Apple has reportedly acquired Canadian mapping company Poly9, and has moved the company’s senior team to California.
According to the Qeubec publication Le Soleil, the firm was acquired mainly for its talented management group.
Poly9 provides APIs that use other maps obtained from Google Earth, Google Maps, Urban Mapping and a number of other groups. It also offers a 3D globe mapping service, similar to Google Earth.
The reported acquisition comes after Apple bought map group Placebase last year, along with two job listing for iPhone and iPod engineers specialising in mapping skills.
Some analysts have suggested Apple could be looking to establish its own mapping software without having to rely on Google.
Patrick Stafford is a freelance journalist and a former deputy editor of SmartCompany.
