jeepx: GPS Discoveries: GeoVector: Point & Shop

GeoVector: Point & Shop

You point your phone/camera/gps to a restaurant in some part of town. Push some keys and is presented with a review about it that you read right there.

Afterwards, you are walking around town and find this nice building and want to know its history. Same thing. Point and read about it.

Ok, when? Where?
Now. In Japan.

GeoVector announced (with its partner Mapion) that KDDI mobile phone users in Japan can now point to a buiding and obtain information about it using "Mapion Local Search for Mobile Phones".

Based in San Francisco and with offices in New Zealand and Japan, GeoVector holds quite a few significant patents covering augmented reality, 3D search engines and virtual reality systems. In Japan, they were able to connect with companies that had the hardware necessary and customers willing to use its service.


Phones and PDA's with cameras, embedded GPS and integrated compass (like the Sony-Ericsson CDMA-based W21S) are all over the place in Japan and that was a natural fit for GeoVector's technology. The idea is to provide even more Location Based Services where someone can point and buy some product or service, like a movie ticket or parking space.

Ok, when do we get it here??

Answering my own question, I found a column written by Rafe Neddleman on Release 1.0 where Peter Ellenby, the founder of GeoVector answers that it "will not be soon".

Peter points Semacode.org for an example of a non-GPS based geo-reference technique.

[Based on report from Wireless IQ]

posted by gpsguy at 12:39 PM
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