Topic: Waze

PhantomALERT: Waze Stole Our Database And Sold It To Google For $1 Billion

Traffic violation-avoidance app maker PhantomALERT has sued Waze/Google for copyright violations and related claims. The company contends that Waze stole its points of interest (POI) database after partnership negotiations broke down between the two companies. Google is named in the suit only as the legal owner of and successor to Waze. No specific Google wrongdoing […]

Google Maps Navigation Now Covers 104 Countries

Android Police points out that Google has expanded navigation for Google Maps to 20 additional countries. These are mostly in Africa, the Caribbean islands and South America.  From Algeria to Venezuela, the addition of these 20 brings to an impressive 104 the total number of countries where Google Maps offer navigation services. Google Maps is the fifth most […]

Apple Maps To Offer Choice Of Google, Others For Directions

According to Cult of Mac, Apple is doing something very interesting with iOS 8 Maps. It’s giving people a choice of apps to use for directions. A GIF in the article shows that once a destination is located users will be able to choose directions from, presumably, any mapping-related app installed on their iPhones: Starting […]

SearchCap: Google AdWords Removes Delete, Right To Be Forgotten Confusion & July 4th

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Semantics: Google AdWords To Replace “Delete” With “Remove” In Most Instances It’s always seemed odd that choosing to “Delete” a campaign, for example, in AdWords doesn’t actually mean the campaign will […]

SearchCap: Google Updates Its Privacy Policy

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Google Updates Its Privacy Policy You may have noticed Google’s Privacy Policy has been updated as of March 31, with a red letter “Updated” call-out the site’s home page preceding Google’s […]

New Google Maps Comes Out Of Preview Today

Roughly last May at Google’s “I/O” developer conference, the company introduced an updated version of its desktop Maps experience. Since that time, it has been in “preview,” allowing users to go back and forth between the “classic” and new versions. Today, it’s coming out of preview and soon will be the default PC Google Maps […]

Telenav Thinks Scout Can Take On Google Maps

Last week Telenav acquired Skobbler for roughly $24 million in cash and stock. Skobbler is based in Berlin, Germany and is to OpenStreetMap (OSM) what Red Hat is to Linux according to Ryan Peterson of Telenav. For those not aware, OSM is the Wikipedia of digital mapping. It relies on a global force of over 1.5 […]

SearchCap: The Day In Search, January 29, 2014

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: People, Videos, News: Twitter Adds New Search Filters Earlier today Twitter announced that it was bringing a number of new search filters to the site. These include: people, photos, videos, news. […]

New Google Maps Adds More Search Results To Info Window

The (relatively) new Google Maps is certainly visually richer than the old Maps UI. However it may be somewhat less functional. As one example, it eliminates one of my favorite and most-used features: “search nearby.” It’s now also somewhat harder to access multiple results on a category query, ironically. Yesterday, Google Operating System spotted a […]

The Return Of Pegman And Other New Google Maps Features

The new full-screen Google Maps were announced this summer at Google’s developer conference. However, the company is still rolling it out to users. Today on the Google LatLong blog, a number of new (or returning) features were introduced. Among them, the “Pegman” Street View icon is back. He/it appears in the lower right corner of […]

SearchCap: The Day In Search, October 1, 2013

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the Web. From Search Engine Land: Maps Roundup: Google Avoids Waze Antitrust Fight, Scout Social Mapping, deCarta Route Patent Google spent just over $1 billion to take Waze away from Facebook, Apple or Nokia and Microsoft. It […]

New Google Antitrust Offer A “Significant Improvement” Says EU

After Google’s competitors loudly complained about the company’s antitrust settlement proposal, which displayed three “rival links” to alternative’ search results, European Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said it would take new “concessions” for Google to successfully settle its antitrust case with Europe. Google has now reportedly made those concessions. Almunia characterized Google’s updated settlement offer, submitted last […]

Foursquare Aims To Improve Venue Database By Expanding Superuser Program

Foursquare’s superuser program, now 40,000 people strong, is getting an overhaul. The company says it’ll soon launch an automated test that will make it easier for users to become superusers — they’re the ones with special privileges to edit business listings and venues in Foursquare’s database of 55 million places. (Non-superusers can only suggest changes […]

SearchCap: The Day In Search, August 27, 2013

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the Web. From Search Engine Land: Google AdWords Adds Cross-Account Conversion Tracking & MCC Search Funnels To help advertisers track performance across multiple AdWords accounts, Google announced cross-account conversion tracking and search funnel reporting. This is the […]

SearchCap: The Day In Search, August 23, 2013

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the Web. From Search Engine Land: Bing Says Goodbye to Bing Shopping, Hello Product Search With Rich Captions & Product Ads Today, Bing announced that Bing Shopping is being replaced by Product Search, which simply integrates product […]

Apple “Embarks” On Another Mapping Acquisition

Last month Apple bought Locationary and Hop Stop. The point of the first was to improve the overall quality of local data for Apple Maps and the second was for mass transit information. Apparently, according to former WSJ reporter Jessica Lessin, Apple has made another buy for transit purposes. The company has acquired app developer Embark. […]

SearchCap: The Day In Search, August 20, 2013

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the Web. From Search Engine Land: Without Fanfare, SEMPO Turns 10 Today marks the 10th birthday of the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization – SEMPO – formed to be a trade advocacy body for the search marketing […]

Google Adds Waze Traffic To Maps App, Search To Waze

The first “synergies” from Google’s Waze acquisition are being rolled out to both Google Maps and Waze users. Google announced this morning in a blog post that real-time Waze traffic updates will appear in the Google Maps app (for iOS, Android): Users of Google Maps for Mobile will now benefit from real time incident reports […]

SEO

New CityMaps Hopes To Compete With Social And Editorial Content

Mobile mapping provider CityMaps recently redesigned its iOS app. It impressively includes home-grown vector maps, built from the ground up. Beyond this CityMaps is trying to offer deeper editorial and social content to differentiate from other mapping and local-search apps. CityMaps also invokes the language of “personal assistant” in its promotional video (below). These concepts […]

Google Relaunches Zagat App With Yelp In Mind

Last week, Google killed the Google+ Local mobile app for iOS, saying that all the same content was available in Google Maps for iOS. Today, the company announced the relaunch of the Zagat site and mobile app for Android and iPhone. All the Zagat content is now free and there’s no registration required. And even […]

HopStop Bought By Apple For Public Transit Data

Hot on the heels of its acquisition of Locationary, Apple has bought transit site and cityguide HopStop for an undisclosed amount. It’s an ugly site that has very useful public transit schedules, maps and related information. The value of the data to Apple Maps is obvious. HopStop launched in 2005 and evolved over the years […]

SearchCap: The Day In Search, July 1, 2013

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the Web. From Search Engine Land: New Bing Search By License Feature Filters Images Based On Usage Rights Bing announced a new “Search by License” feature today that filters images based on usage rights. The new feature […]

SearchCap: The Day In Search, June 24, 2013

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the Web. From Search Engine Land: Google AdWords New Top Movers Report Aims To Automate “What’s Changed” Reporting The new Top Movers report in Google AdWords shows you which campaigns and ad groups had the largest changes […]

SearchCap: The Day In Search, June 17, 2013

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the Web. From Search Engine Land: Google’s Matt Cutts: Stock Images Do Not Impact Search Engine Rankings Google’s head of search spam, Matt Cutts, said in a recent video that using stock images from a stock image […]

SearchCap: The Day In Search, June 11, 2013

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the Web. From Search Engine Land: DuckDuckGo Passes 2 Million Daily Searches DuckDuckGo, the upstart search engine that hangs it hat on protecting its users’ privacy, hit a new milestone on Monday: its first day with two […]

Google Officially Buys Waze, Will Integrate Technologies

Google announced they’ve officially acquired Waze, the popular app based social driven mapping technology. This was expected and the rumors are Google paid $1.3 billion for the Israeli startup company. The big questions are (1) will this acquisition be allowed and if so (2) will Google allow Waze to be an independent product and brand? […]

SearchCap: The Day In Search, June 10, 2013

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the Web. From Search Engine Land: Apple Makes Bing The “Default Search Engine” For Siri One of the things that you might have missed if you weren’t paying really close attention to the live blogs of the […]

Will Google’s Expected $1.3 Billion Waze Acquisition Be Allowed?

Early yesterday, Israeli business website Globes.co.il said that Google will acquire social mapping app Waze for $1.3 billion. That report has subsequently been all-but-confirmed by others, including the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), which said the announcement could come this week. The WSJ said that by size Waze would constitute Google’s fourth largest acquisition, assuming it comes to pass. […]

SearchCap: The Day In Search, May 24, 2013

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the Web. From Search Engine Land: Google Glass Diary, Part 4: Local Search & Navigation Remember that first Google Glass video? It was published a little more than a year ago and gave the world its first […]

Report: Google To Bid For Waze — To Shut It Down?

According to a just-published Bloomberg report, Google is preparing a bid for Waze. Earlier this month, rumors indicating Facebook was in late-stage acquisition talks with Waze for roughly $1 billion appeared online. Other parties (Apple, Microsoft) may now also be interested in the social mapping service. According to the Bloomberg report: Waze is fielding expressions […]