Google Maps app now includes Waze incident reports

Putting its June acquisition of the popular social mapping and location startup Waze to good use, the Internet giant Google today announced that crowd-sourced incident reports from Wazers will be soon available through the Google Maps mobile apps for iOS and Android.

This means when Wazers report accidents, construction, road closures and more on Waze, their updates will also appear in real-time on the Google Maps mobile apps in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, France, Germany, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Switzerland, UK and the US…

“Not only will we continue to outsmart traffic and keep citizens updated via the Waze app and broadcast partners, but Waze real time incident reports will appear on the Google Maps for Android, iPad and iPhone,” the Waze team wrote in a blog post.

Incident reports within Google Maps will not include Wazer profile information, but contributors will still earn points on the Waze side.

And writing on its Lat Long blog, the Google Maps team wrote that the updated Waze Map Editor (below) is now available with support for Google Street View and satellite imagery, making it easy for Wazers to report map errors.

The company has also updated the free Waze app for iOS and Android with built-in Google Search, which joins a host of other search providers featured on Waze, such as Foursquare and Yelp.

Previously, Google started monetizing users by injecting relevant advertising into Google Maps search results across mobile platforms.

Moreover, the search monster has killed the Google+ Local iOS app and posted a new Google Maps SDK which lets third-party iOS developers implement Street View and Indoor Maps in their warez.

Though Apple was speculated to have been interested in Waze, the deal never went through as Google snatched the startup out from under Apple in a surprising move.

Since that hiccup, Apple has moved to snap up public transit and navigation data providerHopStop and location-based data startup Locationary.

In addition, the iPhone maker recently advertised a number of Maps-related positions on its website. Eagled-eyed readers could also note Apple is set to release a standalone Maps Mac app as part of its upcoming Fall release of OS X Mavericks.

You can download Google Maps free from Apple’s App Store or Google’s Play store.

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Updated Google Maps Includes iPad Support, Better Navigation

Google promised at their annual I/O conference to push an update for their Maps app to iOS that included iPad support and a slightly tweaked design. They’ve now made good on that announcement, as the 2.0 update is rolling out across the world.

Google Maps 2.0 offers compatibility with the iPad, indoor maps for malls and other popular venues, and an Explore feature to research and review restaurants, hotels, entertainment venues, and other locations.

The update is currently rolling out, so it will be available at roughly midnight in your timezone. 9to5mac reports that some users are having success in updating just by deleting the app and then redownloading it from iCloud.

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Apple acquires indoor GPS company WiFiSLAM for $20 million

Big news out of Cupertino this evening. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Apple has acquired indoor mobile location positioning firm WiFiSLAM, in a deal worth somewhere in the neighborhood of $20 million.

Apple has confirmed the acquisition of the company, which possesses proprietary technology that allows mobile apps to detect a smartphone user’s location inside of buildings using preexisting ambient Wi-Fi signals…

The Wall Street Journal‘s Jessica Lessin reports:

“Apple has acquired indoor-GPS company WifiSLAM, a sign that the war over indoor mobile location services is heating up. Apple paid around $20 million for the Silicon Valley-based company, according to a person familiar with the matter who said the deal closed recently.

The two-year-old startup has developed ways for mobile apps to detect a phone user’s location in a building using Wi-Fi signals. It has been offering the technology to application developers for indoor mapping and new types of retail and social networking apps.”

WiFiSLAM has just a handful of employees, made up of a mix of former Google software engineers and Stanford graduates. It’s raised an unknown amount of money from angel investors, including Google’s Don Dodge.

Here’s co-founder Joseph Huang speaking about WiFiSLAM at GeoMeetup late last year.

Apple’s acquisition of the indoor positioning firm makes sense, considering that it’s trying to compete with Google in the mapping space. Google Maps currently supports indoor maps for a number of popular venues.

A company spokesman confirmed the buyout with The Journal, saying that Apple “buys smaller technology companies from time to time,” but generally doesn’t discuss its plans. And he declined to comment any further.

He’s right though, Apple has acquired a number of smaller companies in the last few years—particularly those with mapping technologies. In 2009 they acquired Placebase, and later added Poly9 and C3 Technologies.

Apple released its in-house Maps app last fall alongside iOS 6. It initially received a copious amount of criticism over the service due to data inaccuracies, but it has made a number of improvements within the last 6 months.

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