Local Search & Discovery (LSDE)

location based services

In a fast growing market where delivering the optimum user experience is of critical importance, m-spatial’s unique User Experience and Content Aggregation architecture provide the ability to offer consumers quick and simple access to the breadth of ‘local’ information provided by a traditional internet search engine combined with the depth and accuracy of a specialist search site.
This is achieved by delivering a ‘made for mobile’ user experience underpinned by a unique architecture offering a scalable and extensible approach to the aggregation of ‘local’ content from multiple sources.
Local Search – the mobile challenge
Local Search is a high growth sector of the internet. A major battle to provide the best possible user experience for connecting consumers with ‘local’ businesses and information is underway. Directory Providers and Search Engines are competing for the prize of owning ‘local’ advertising revenues from businesses – a market predicted by the Kelsey Group to be worth $5.1bn in the US alone by 2009.
Mobile local search represents a significant proportion of the local search market opportunity and mobile network operators, directory providers and search engines are focusing significant attention on this key segment.
Traditional desktop PC browser-based local search technologies, where the user is typically requested to ‘type, browse and choose’, are simply not viable for use on a mobile phone.
Use on a mobile phone presents a number of unique challenges:
Imminent decision making – the typical mobile user is not ‘researching’, but looking for a complete ‘local’ answer to an immediate need
The potential for user input is limited – few users enjoy typing on a mobile phone
The potential for results display is limited – small screens limit the typical ‘scanning by eye’ of multiple search results
The potential for ‘trial and error testing’ of multiple results is limited – network bandwidth and latency issues prevent the rapid iterative approach to search often taken on the internet
The ability to generate revenue from advertising is challenging – users regard their mobile as a very personal device and are not as tolerant of intrusive advertising as they are on-line.
With 4 years experience of building mobile data services which provide consumers with quick and easy access to ‘local’ information, m-spatial has developed a unique approach to local search which addresses each of the mobile challenges outlined above.
m-spatial’s Local Search and Discovery Engine (LSDE™) technology delivers a revolutionary discovery-based ‘assisted browsing’ user experience , and is underpinned by a state-of-the-art mechanism for content aggregation.