Apple has acquired Coherent Navigation, a company focused on hyper-accurate GPS, in an effort to improve its mapping capabilities, MacRumors reports.
Coherent Navigation's High Integrity GPS system is supposedly so granular that it can provide accurate location information to within a few centimeters.
It's no secret that Apple Maps has long struggled with providing accurate location information since phasing out Google Maps in 2012.
Coherent Navigation's technology could theoretically be used to significantly enhance Apple's Maps product, though Apple has not confirmed how Coherent or its employees will be integrated into the company.
“Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans,” an Apple spokesperson told the New York Times in an email.
However, several Coherent employees have already begun working for Apple. Former Coherent CEO Paul Lego joined the tech giant in January as part of the Apple Maps team and co-founders William Bencze and Brett Ledvina came on board last month in location engineering roles. The former Coherent website now directs to Apple's servers.
