Wireless operator Vodafone announced today that it transferred to open source (BSD license) all the software development made at Wayfinder, a navigation and LBS supplier acquired in December 2008 for $29.4 million (two and half times its market capitalization) and closed down in March 2010 (read here). "Given our...

According to a new research commissioned by Webroot, a provider of Internet security, the growing popularity of location-aware social networks is raising consumer concerns about loss of privacy. Webroot surveyed social network users (online survey of 1,645 US and UK respondents) who own geolocation-ready mobile devices...

US business listings provider Infogroup has announced today to have renewed its licensing agreement with Google that includes Infogroup’s premium local search content in its Search results. Google has been using Infogroup local business listings since 2005. Under the renewal agreement, Google will continue to receive...

Mobile navigation provider Telmap has announced today a partnership with Travel guide maker Lonely Planet to provide their digital content into its mobile search, mapping and navigation solution. Wireless operators customers of Telmap will now have the possibility to integrate this content into their portfolio. This type...

At the Openstreetmap (OSM) annual conference, AOL subsidiary MapQuest announced on Friday its plan to support the free mapping initiative with a $1 million fund, a strategy that will not please NAVTEQ, its current commercial map provider. “We believe that open source is ultimately the future for AOL’s local and mapping...

INTERVIEW: While the market for fleet or lone worker tracking is already well established just how popular is consumer people tracking in Europe? GPS Business News spoke to Sara Murray from UK-based buddi and Kajsa Lundfall, CEO of Sweden-based LociLoci, to hear their experiences and expectations for the sector.

When GPS Business News broke the news of Dash Navigation acquisition by Research In Motion (RIM) in June 2009 (read here), we expected that one day or another RIM would come up with a solution crowd-sourcing GPS data to offer traffic information. It seems the Canadian company is now close to release such software. A...

Skyhook Wireless today revealed that Samsung has started to use its Wi-Fi and hybrid location technology across multiple mobile devices. The first handset that have launched with Skyhook embedded are the Wave (Model: S8500), the first smartphone that runs on the new Samsung OS, bada. Skyhook Wireless now claims over 100...

Digital map provider NAVTEQ has started to invest in building a global transit data business learned GPS Business News. So far transit data offered by NAVTEQ was limited to cities where the company has a a pedestrian content layer called "Discover cities", but it seems the ambition of NAVTEQ is now moving beyond that point....

Location-based social network Foursquare yesterday announced the closing of a $20 million Series B round with the new venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz as well as existing shareholders Union Square Ventures and O’Reilly AlphaTech Venture. This fund raising was announced the same day a substantial privacy leak on the...

MapQuest, the #2 mapping portal in the United States and a subsidiary of AOL, yesterday unveiled a redesigned website and a new brand identity. “MapQuest remains one of the largest mapping properties on the Internet and is a central part of AOL’s Local and Mapping strategy,” said Jon Brod, Executive Vice President of AOL...

French LBS provider Navx won its lawsuit against Google about the closing of their Adwords account used to advertise for speedcam warning databases. Google closed Navx Adwords account in November 2009 over the idea that advertising for speedcam warning databases would breach its content policy. The French Autorité de la...