Google acquires traffic and navigation application Waze - 20minutos.es

class=”text”> An image of various Google services. (Gtres)

Internet giant Google has reached an agreement to purchase Waze, a popular application traffic and navigation for mobile devices that has an active social platform, the company said Tuesday in a statement.

class=”imp”> The popular application is fed information from the users themselves to direct the driver for the shortest and fastest way “We will work closely with the vibrant community of Waze, that is DNA this application, to make sure they have what they need to grow and thrive, “said in a statement Brian McClendon, VP of Engineering of the company.

Google reportedly offered 1,300 million (about 983 million euros) by Israeli implementing a road navigation program that draws on information from the users themselves to direct the driver by the shortest and fastest way.

According

published on Monday the Israeli daily Yediot Aharonot, it is the largest commercial operation in the history of Israeli phone application.

In the last year

Apple and Facebook had been interested in the application and presented offers between 500 and 800 million dollars to youth group who designed it, but the sale did not go first because none of them has pledged to leave R & D facilities in Israel.

Instead Google

leaves all the development and innovation center Waze current headquarters city of Raanana, one of the leading technology parks in the country, and thus prevents the dismissal of many of their employees.

49 million users worldwide

“In Google share our vision of a comprehensive mapping service, updated in real-time to local communities.’re pleased to work with the team of Google Maps for improve our ability search and to help them in their efforts to build the best map of the world, “said Noam Bardin, CEO of Waze.

users 49 million worldwide, the popular application integration combines different sources of information and navigation with the contribution of users in a system multidirectional consultation with warning of any incidents on the road and suggests alternative routes and departure times.

“Waze community and his team have created a great source updates on traffic conditions . welcome them to Google and look forward to working with them in our efforts to get a map of the more accurate and useful world, “said McClendon.