Now that it has sold off its devices division to Microsoft, Nokia is looking elsewhere for growth opportunities. One of the areas they still own is HERE Maps which will apparently hit multiple platforms in the near future. We’re talking about iOS and Android, providing users with alternative to the dominant Google Maps service.
As part of the plan to make HERE Maps better, Nokia has acquired mapping startup Desti, which relies on artificial intelligence and natural language processing to generate more personalized location searches. Additionally, Desti also taps into users’ social graph, taking into account their preferences and tastes to deliver more relevant results. The service came out of the same research center as Siri and Nuance.
“We want to create a new class of location services that implicitly understands who you are and what you’re looking for, sometimes even before you ask,” said HERE VP of Search and Places Don Zereski.
No numbers have been mentioned but we do know that Desti will shut down as a result of the acquisition. Likewise, we’ve no idea how Nokia will integrate Desti into HERE Maps but we can imagine getting better local business listings as a result.
[Via: FoneArena]