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70 Location-Based Services M&A Transactions

With the LBS market developing now at lightning speed, I've decided to keep a running tally of Location-Based Services M&A transactions, and those close to LBS that might impact market developments.  Here's the first 70+, starting way back in 1999 when a walled-garden AOL bought Mapquest, making it the worlds first $1B dollar mapping company.  

DateAcquirerTarget
10/18/07PlatialFrappr
10/15/07MotricityInfoSpace
10/2/07XeDARPixxures
10/1/07NokiaNAVTEQ
7/21/07GoogleImageAmerica
7/3/07WayfinderNavicore
6/23/07TomTomTele Atlas
6/21/07SiRFCentrality Communications
6/19/07Local.comPremierGuide
6/19/07LeicaIonic
6/12/07BroadcomGlobal Locate
5/9/07SanefWebraska
4/23/07LipidlabsTelemedicus
3/29/07TruePositionUseful Networks
3/5/07Pitney BowesMapInfo
3/5/07BenefonGeoSolutions BV
1/15/07CSRCambridge Positioning Systems
1/12/07GE Equipment ServicesTerion
1/11/07Vista Equity Partners/MDSIIndus
1/11/07ZebraWhereNet
1/9/07CorrigoAligo
1/8/07DigitalGlobeGlobeXplorer
1/5/07GarminDigital Cyclone 
12/10/06Trimble@Road
12/5/06NAVTEQThe Map Network
11/22/06TrimbleSpacient
11/15/06Wallace WirelessmBiztech
11/5/06NAVTEQTraffic.com
9/12/06ActSoftIT2ME
8/31/06Hellman & Friedman and Texas Pacific Group Intergraph
8/31/06NokiaGate5
8/28/06TrimbleIntransix (All Sport GPS)
7/21/06HughesNetworkCar
7/20/06Wireless MatrixMobileAria
5/4/06MicrosoftVexcel
3/30/06Punch TelematixAlturion
1/12/06TomTomApplied Generics
12/31/05MicrosoftGeoTango
11/1/05PlanetLinkAutoTrak GPS
10/19/05Yahoo!WhereOnEarth
10/18/05Homeland Security SystemsActSoft
10/7/05Tele AtlasGeo Invent 
10/3/05GarminMotion Based
9/25/05OrbimageSpace Imaging
9/12/05GlobeXplorerAirPhoto USA
8/28/05AndrewNortel (GMLC assets)
8/24/05TomTomDatafactory
7/29/05Vista Equity PartnersMDSI
6/2/05SiRFMotorola (GPS Holdings)
5/12/05Googledodgeball
2/8/05Ulocategeosnapper.com
1/18/05AligoH2 Technologies
12/15/04@RoadVindus
10/29/04GoogleKeyhole
9/8/04MapInfoSouthbank Systems Limited
9/3/04TCSKivera
4/28/04Tele AtlasGDT
3/30/04QuovaInfoSplit
3/3/03SiRFEnuvis
1/6/03MapInfoThompson Asociates
10/22/02Microsoft Vicinity 
5/28/02OpenwaveSignalSoft
9/24/01WebraskaAirflash
8/1/01SiRFConexant
8/1/01ThalesMagellan
5/30/01SignalSoftmobilePosition
4/30/01LeicaERDAS
7/9/00National GeographicWildflower Productions
4/5/00SignalSoftbFound
8/17/00GESmallworld
1/26/00QualcommSnaptrack
12/2/99AOLMapQuest

Posted on Thu, October 18, 2007 at 2:42PM by Registered CommenterJonathan Spinney in , | Comments7 Comments | References1 Reference

References (1)

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  • Response
    Response: Location-Based Services M&A transactions
    at All Points Blog on 10-24-2007
    The Maperture blog (Jonathan Spinney, Eric Carr and David Williams) offers up a list of the last 70 or so transactions. Interesting historical document.- via GigaOm

Reader Comments (7)

This is an interesting list. Thanks for putting it together!
10-24-2007 | Unregistered CommenterTom Printy
Hey Guys, Great Post How did you put this list together?
10-25-2007 | Unregistered Commentertomthree
The list is interesting but to say they are all LBS related is a stretch. But since you are trying to get them all what about the Google purchase of Last Chance Software (Sketch Up)?
10-31-2007 | Unregistered Commenterjmccarthy@esri.com
Jack - I think you mean @Last Software. Since they do CAD-for-masses stuff, it wasn't appropriate to affiliate them with LBS-related M&A, but thanks for the input nonetheless! If you want to see the larger list (which does include @Last), send me a private email and I’ll give it to you.
10-31-2007 | Registered CommenterJonathan Spinney
Hey guys, thanks a lot for the info. i want to use these numbers in my business plan. Increased M&A trend in LBS... Is there anyway I can get the excel file or the data in some other format so I can play with making different diagrams? Thanks a lot!
11-7-2007 | Unregistered CommenterDavid Haddad
We formatted the original post html to allow you (or anyone else) to copy and paste the data directly into a spreadsheet. Knock yourself out!
11-7-2007 | Registered CommenterJonathan Spinney
I actually reposted this comment many times before. FYI
------------------------
Recently I browsed around about the location-based services (LBS). Most people believe it would be the next big thing or killer app. Quite a few others have different opinion. e.g.,

http://www.smallsurfaces.com/2008/06/do-we-need-lbs/
http://www.lewebmobile.com/2008/06/do-humans-really-need-location-based.html

Here I can possibly present one opinion from the consumer/end-user perspective, which I have posted in some other places too.

Do we need LBS so badly?

Before I really go to the details. Let me give a review of one simple concept and theory here, which are called “Home Range Concept” and “Traffic Pattern Theory”.

Home Range Concept. It is a concept that can be traced back to a publication in 1943 by W. H. Burt, who constructed maps delineating the spatial extent or outside boundary of an animal’s movement during the course of its everyday activities.

Traffic Pattern Theory. A people’s daily activity pattern is pretty regular, which comprises of several major events, such as school, work, home, shopping.

As I remember, a technical explanation of traffic pattern theory can be found in a report by Stefan Schonfelder, STRC 2001.

http://www.strc.ch/schoenfe.pdf

What happened here is if you are looking at the traffic pattern of a person, saying a full-time employed, 45 years, car, 3-person-household, one child, the regular activity route is so LIMITED. So, does this mean …

A more detailed explanation of LBS for mobiles can be found by
http://to.swang.googlepages.com/
http://to.swang.googlepages.com/lbs
06-11-2008 | Unregistered CommenterElibom

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