MANILA, Philippines – Google looks to be close to acquring traffic information crowdsourcing application Waze, and the upper limit of their acquisition offer looks to be impressive indeed.

The Wall Street Journal reports that while no deal has been completed yet, an announcement should be coming soon, perhaps as early as Tuesday. According to reports, Waze will remain independent after the purchase, though the fear of Google’s acquisition hurting Waze’s independence remains an issue for some. 

In terms of how much Google is willing to pay for Waze, Israel business news daily Globes notes the deal could reach up to US$1.3 billion. Globes was first to announce the impending acquisition.

While it is expected that Waze will remain independent, the Wall Street Journal report notes some politics may be involved with finalizing the deal, as there are only a handful of global map data resources out there, and a Google acquisition of Waze would push regulatory agencies to look more closely into the deal. – Rappler.com