Citymaps, a company based in the USA, has been for a little while now been trying to create a mapping platform that is personalised, customisable, social, and designed for a mobile-first world. Overnight in New York, they’ve announced that they’re launching their social mapping app globally through an app update.
The app update is rolling out to existing users now (along with new users), bringing the app up to version 2.0 with a raft of new changes including:
- New Explore Tab — Tap “Explore” to find the best places, the best collections from users, and the most popular users for any town or city (partners include Serious Eats, Ashton Kutcher, Groupon + more)
- Personalised — The more you use Citymaps, the smarter it gets about your tastes.
- Star ratings on the map — Stream in business names, categories, and star ratings right on the map.
- Significantly improved search — Incorporated fancy new search algorithms.
The update also introduces “collaborative maps,” which enables groups of people to create collections together. CityMaps says this offers a visually-rich map, with over 80 million places worldwide.
Alongside the new version of the app, Citymaps has also announced that it has completed a series A1 funding round which sees an additional $6M in new equity financing from Nokia Growth Partners, Coatue Management, Acadia Woods LLC, and existing investors.
Paul Asel, Managing Partner at Nokia Growth Partners, who will join the Citymaps board of directors says that “Citymaps fits well into a mobile-first world delivering contextual maps that are personalized, customizable and social,” and that “Personal, collaborative maps offer new ways to present and preserve information in a visually compelling map platform. Citymaps’ strong team and technology position the company well as a leader in social mapping.”
Speaking at the Live Event in New York, Founder & CEO, Elliot Cohen said “Citymaps 2.0 is our most significant update and provides users with a ‘one stop shop’ to create and discover social maps,” and that “One out of every two people keep lists of places they want to remember – Citymaps makes it easier than ever to do this, and lets users take the information with them on-the-go.”
Looking over at the app, it would seem there is some potential there for us Aussie users to take advantage of it – now that we can use it – but whether or not it will be able to out shine other apps of a similar nature like Waze and Google’s own Maps in our country is yet to be seen.
If you’re interested in checking Citymaps 2.0, click the link below and try it out.
