Nokia’s geolocation buying spree goes on. This time, it’s buying Cambridge, Mass.-based MetaCarta, whose technology interrogates documents for geographical information.
Nokia (NYSE: NOK) isn’t confirming the price or terms in its very brief announcement, which confirms: “MetaCarta’s technology will be used in the area of local search in Location and other services.” MetaCarta previously attracted funding from DARPA and the CIA’s In-Q-Tel investment arm, according to previous reports.
MetaCarta’s products extract geographic information from content, and therefore allow content to be searched using geographic terms and for the data to be used in other applications. The company says it makes information “location-aware”.
This fits right in with Nokia’s “SoLo” (social location) vision, which it wants to delivery through Ovi Maps. The handset maker has been talking about it for the last couple of years. If it ever executes, it could find itself with an advantage in the area.
In the last few years, Nokia has acquired mapping firm Gate5, Berlin’s Bit-side map provider Navteq and travel social network Dopplr, as well as social address book firm Cellity and browser maker Novarra.