There’s a map for thatTHE world’s oldest map, etched into the wall of a cave in Spain 14,000 years ago, charted the best locations to hunt for food. Today companies are competing in their own hunt to control the future of mapping technology. Nokia, a telecoms-equipment maker, is looking to sell its digital-mapping division, Here, for up to $4 billion, according to reports, and may announce within weeks which of several bidders has won.
Here is coveted prey because it is one of only three firms—the other two are TomTom of the Netherlands and Google—that have mapped the world’s streets extensively, at a time when mapping is becoming more important to the future of commerce and transport. Four-fifths of new cars with a built-in mapping system in North America and Europe use Here.
Many smartphone apps rely on mapping technology to locate nearby shops and services, such as where to buy coffee or get a haircut. To build up reliable, usable maps takes a lot of time and money. The biggest mapping firms have sent out fleets of cars to record streets’ features in fine detail (see photo). Even Apple, the technology...
from The Economist: Business http://ift.tt/1LcGObT
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