Apple Acquires Transportation App HopStop

Apple, in a bid to improve its infamous mapping system, today acquired popular transportation app HopStop. 

Apple confirmed the purchase late Friday afternoon, though did not go into detail about what it intends to do with the company.

The new mapping software Apple debuted in September with the iPhone 5 has been faulted for getting users lost and for its lack of public transportation directions. HopStop shows users in more than 500 cities the fastest way to travel by foot, bike, subway and car; Locationary deploys real-time data from a variety of sources to help users find featured businesses.

The functionality is similar to the newly-acquired Waze, except it is for transit rather than automobile traffic.

HopStop’s App Store description reads : 

Get detailed subway, bus, train, taxi, walking and biking directions, real-time transit information via “HopStop Live!”, as well as official transit maps, nearby station search, and station-to-station schedules in over 600 cities throughout the US, Canada, Europe, Australia and New Zealand.

In addition, you’ll benefit from our latest feature, HopStop Live!, which lets you see what other HopStop users are saying, in real-time, about the stations, trains, lines and buses you use most. HopStop Live! empowers our community of millions of transit riders to work together towards a common goal to get everyone to where they need to go, faster.

With HopStop Live! you can:

• Follow your favorite lines, stations or stops
• Report real-time delays and issues
• Contribute pictures of what you’re seeing on buses and trains
• Share to Facebook and Twitter

The app also supports these great features as well:

• Get directions from your current location
• Get schedules for hundreds of regional rails, subways, buses, ferries, light rails, streetcars, trams, trolleys & more
• Map a location & see nearby subway & bus stops
• Estimate travel time & cost for a taxi & call cab companies
• See a list of all possible routes with Smart Route
• Get biking directions in NYC, DC, Chicago, & SF

Earlier on Friday a report from All Things Digital noted that Apple had purchased Locationary, a location-based data company that blended data from multiple sources, including things like business listings and products and services.

[Via]