Urban Engines recently announced that it will become part of Google Maps. It’s a bit of a welcome back type of deal as Urban Engines’ co-founder and CEO Shiva Shivakumar was an engineer at Google for nearly a decade, working on algorithm-based web products such as Sitemaps and AdSense. He left in 2010 to focus on incorporating web-style analysis to real-world transportation networks.
Urban Engines works by offering route analytics for urban planning, delivery and commuting. It utilizes what it calls its “space/time engine” to replicate routes and scenarios. As a result, Google Maps should be more efficient. Their announcement post reads:
Location analytics is an important focus for both Urban Engines and Google, and we’re excited to combine forces to help organizations better understand how the world moves.
Google purchased Urban Engines with the intention of enhancing Google Maps.
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