GeoVector Corporation, which specialises in pointing-based search solutions, and CyberMap Japan Corp., owner of mapping services company Mapion, have announced the launch of version 2.0 of the Mapion Pointing Application, called Mapion Pointing Appli, for mobile phones in Japan. This upgrade transforms Mapions existing GeoVector pointing mobile search service into a fully commercial application, available to over 2 million phones.
Mapion Pointing Application enables consumers to easily find and launch rich content by pointing and clicking mobile phones at retailers, restaurants, historical sites or any of Mapions 700,000 Points of Interest (POIs) across Japan. The service combines Mapions POI data with GeoVectors pointing-based technology and spatial search engine, providing, the companies say, the worlds first truly personal local search service.
The new release builds upon the success of Version 1.0, with user feedback contributing to improved functionality and ease of use. New capabilities include user-driven opt-in advertising, sponsored categories and preferred placement.
These upgrades greatly improve our mobile local search capabilities, giving users the information they need, wherever they need it most, says GeoVector President, John Ellenby. Users and advertisers can now connect based on the users interests, without the exchange of any personal information. Soon people will pick up any GeoVector capable mobile device and merely point it at something to access a wide variety of rich content. While a computer and mouse help you to surf the world wide web, GeoVector enables you to Surf the Whole Wide World just by pointing your mobile phone.”
The service was initially launched over the KDDI network in January 2006, and is now available for download with Sony Ericsson models W32S, W41S, W44S and W51S, the Kyocera W41K, the Casio W42CA, and, from July, the Sony Ericsson W52S.
Mapion is always searching for pioneering technologies to improve our
user experience” says Takehiko Murata, President of CyberMap Corp. GeoVectors exciting technology allows us to bring
users an experience available nowhere else in the world, giving us a
significant advantage over our competitors.