In a move that reflects Nokia’s ongoing efforts to shore up its mapping and navigation offerings, the company announced on Friday that it is acquiring the Cambridge, Massachusetts, US-based privately-held mapping specialist – MetaCarta.

According to Nokia, the technologies used by MetaCarta – which specializes in searching content for location-aware services – virtually bridge the gap between content and maps. Not only do MetaCarta software tools amass location data and systematize information about particular location points, they also correlate web data with location tags.

While MetaCarta’s Geosearch technology can find content, data and information about any location and present it in a single view; its Geotag technology used by MetaCarta helps locate geographic references in different kinds of content, whereon they can be used in other applications.

Nokia has refrained from disclosing the financial aspects of its MetaCarta deal; and has limited the disclosure of its plans to use MetaCarta’s various technologies only to confirming that these technologies “will be used in the area of local search in location and other services.”

Nokia’s moves towards enhancing mapping and navigation offerings became evident when the company announced the $8.1 billion takeover of mapmaker Navteq in 2007 – a deal which gave Nokia an in-house navigation service.

Incidentally, Nokia’s announcement of MetaCarta acquisition comes at a time when the company has also confirmed the finalization of its purchase of Novarra - a software vendor that specializes in mobile browsers and platforms.