SoftBank-backed open source mapping platform for custom maps Mapbox has acquihired the team behind Mapzen’s Valhalla open source routing software.

The decision to bring in the developers from the project is part of the company’s plans to strengthen its offering for its auto and logistics customers this year.

“For the past three years, this team has been working on Valhalla at Mapzen, building a flexible routing engine that can be customised at the time a user makes a request,” said Eric Gundersen, CEO of Mapbox, in a blog post. “Adding Valhalla to our navigation stack gives developers the ability to write custom logic to prefer or avoid certain roads dynamically based on specific use cases. This makes it possible to build products like electric vehicle routing that dynamically routes to recharge stations when fuel is low, and elevation-based routing — important for bicycles and electric vehicles.”

It comes just after Mapzen announced that it would be shutting down at the end of this month, with all of its APIs, support, and services being turned off on 1 February.