Facebook last Thursday announced that it has acquired Swedish mapping technology company Mapillary, the company that is building a global street-level imagery platform that allows everyone to get the imagery and data they need to make better maps.
Mapillary brings together a global network of contributors who want to make the world accessible to everyone by visualizing the world and building better maps. Anyone can join and collect street-level images, using simple tools like smartphones or action cameras.
Jan Erik, CEO and co-founder of Mapillary said in a statement that, "Today, we’re excited to share that Mapillary has joined Facebook to be part of their open mapping efforts. As some of you know, Facebook is building tools and technology to improve maps through a combination of machine learning, satellite imagery and partnerships with mapping communities, as part of their mission to bring the world closer together. These maps power products like Facebook Marketplace that drive transactions for millions of small businesses, and supply vital data to humanitarian organizations around the world."
He added that, "At Mapillary, we’re building the tools for creating a living and visual representation of every place in the world, made available for anyone to update the maps they care about. By merging our efforts, we will further improve the ways that people and machines can work with both aerial and street-level imagery to produce map data. Lots of exciting results will come out of this, including the data we all need to make better maps. Our plan is to continue being a global platform for imagery, map data, and improving all maps."
