Google is close to ending the speculation and buying Israeli Company Waze

Google is close to completing a $1.3 billion deal to acquire social mapping firm Waze — finally ending months of speculation about the startup — according to media reports out of its native Israel.

Globes, a leading online newspaper in the country, reports that Google is currently tying up final deals and ‘will soon’ announce that it has captured the much sought after startup — which both Apple and Facebook have been linked with in recent times.

Update: AllThingsD cites two sources close to the deal who verify Globes’ report, one estimates that the acquisition could be announced as soon on Tuesday.

The deal would be an interesting one that would pair Google’s vast expertise and data in the mapping space, with Waze’s engaged and growing community of drivers and map editors (see below for stats and data). Waze CEO Noam Bardin has spoken of the difficulty of competing with ‘vast players’, and linking up with Google would provide some serious steel and new resources for the service. You can also imagine Waze’s ‘socialified’ maps fitting well with Google Maps and Google+, while it would also be a defensive move to prevent the technology being acquired by Apple or other rivals.

Interestingly, Globes says — citing sources — that the key to the deal is Google’s decision to allow Waze’s senior management and core team to remain based in Israel, where the search giant has a growing presence of its own. That runs opposite to the issues that were said to have broken Facebook’s efforts to land Waze for a reported $1 billion.

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