Apple owns an online mapping company called Poly9 almost without anyone knowing it. Poly9 offered a 3D globe that companies could put on their websites for a fee. Even though the Poly9 globe can be seen on customer’s websites, the service has been discontinued.
Similar to Google Earth, the Poly9 globe was built on JavaScript and that means the technology might be compatible with Apple’s recent evangelism of HTML5. Right now, there isn’t any confirmation from either Apple or Poly9, but the website has been unchanged, as well as, the Twitter feed, some are saying that is sign enough there have been changes.
Other sources are saying the main offices have been closed and just about every single employee has moved to California’s Silicon Valley, where Apple is located. This is actually the second purchase by Apple, of a geo-technology site. Last year Apple purchased Place base, which is also an online mapping service.
Picking up a couple of these sites will no doubt give Apple a boost against Google and Microsoft, who have been making their own investments in mapping and location based services. Apple has also been ramping up its data center capacity so they can offer more robust online services and web applications.
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