deCarta Selected by loopt to Optimize User Experience



San Jose, Calif., March 26, 2007—deCarta, the leading supplier of software platforms and services for the Location-Based Services (LBS) industry, today announced it was selected by the innovative mobile social networking provider loopt to provide high-quality mapping for the company’s popular mobile friend finder service. Through its innovative blend of maps, GPS technology, and user interaction features, loopt has delivered a unique social mapping service that has already attracted more than 100,000 users since launching last fall. With loopt, users can alert, locate and check the status of friends on a map; geo-tag favorite hang-outs or places of interest; organize social events on the fly; and much more. High-quality maps that allow smooth panning around a city are inherent to the service’s engaging user interface and overall experience.“Our success depends on being able to consistently provide subscribers with the most user-friendly experience possible, so map quality, accuracy, performance and scalability means everything,” said Sam Altman, Founder of loopt. “With deCarta, we can confidently focus our resources on adding additional application features for the subscriber and not have to worry about whether the underlying platform will meet our needs as we grow.”
To achieve the quality and scalability of mapping service capabilities loopt required, the company turned to the deCarta Drill Down Server™ (DDS); the same underlying gold-standard technology broadly deployed by such leading Internet, wireless and navigation solution providers as Google, Ask.com, Verizon and Sprint. This high-volume geospatial software platform offers unparalleled speed, flexibility and scalability in embedding maps, geocoding, multi-point routing, proximity search and more for today’s location-enabled mobile, Internet, and other applications with high user volume.
With DDS, loopt can quickly and easily integrate digital maps and database content from multiple sources for fast and accurate access to the user. Users are always presented with well organized geospatial data, including real-time location of users and their friends, user generated points of interest like meeting places, and other information. deCarta’s configurable platform also allows loopt to create maps with their own look and feel, while delivering to loopt users a very attractive and compelling user experience.
“loopt is on the leading edge of new social networking applications,” said J. Kim Fennell, president and CEO of deCarta “The viral nature of these applications means they must scale quickly and cost effectively as they add subscribers. loopt can rest assured knowing the deCarta Drill Down Server can scale to meet growing demand and always deliver picture-perfect maps with the design and functionality consumers expect from their mobile applications.”
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About looptloopt is a Palo Alto-based startup that has built a pioneering “social mapping” service to change the way people keep in touch with their friends. Using new location-based technologies, loopt lets you know where your friends are by automatically updating maps on your mobile handset and the web. loopt also lets you send messages to nearby friends or receive automatic alerts when they’re nearby so that you never miss an opportunity to meet. With loopt, mobile subscribers put themselves on the map. loopt received its $5 million Series A financing from venture capital firms Sequoia Capital and New Enterprise Associates, the same firms that helped found Google, Yahoo! and TiVo, among many other technology innovators. loopt launched on Boost Mobile last September and will be available on most major US carriers in the future.
About deCartadeCarta is the leading geospatial software platform that powers today's most successful Location-Based Services (LBS) applications such as those deployed at Google Maps, Yahoo, Ask.com, Verizon and Sprint. The company's unique, patented technology is ideal for high-volume LBS applications for use in Internet, mobile, personal navigation and enterprise applications where scalability, speed, and reliability are vital. Its Drill Down Server geospatial software platform, Rich Map Engine and Hosted Web Service are preferred by application developers and service providers who also want the flexibility to customize map styles, utilize unique routing capabilities and self brand. deCarta customers and technology partners include AND, Appello, Ask.com, ATX, AutoTrader.com, Google, Hotels.com, Local Matters, Maps.com, Motorola, NAVTEQ, Networks In Motion, Pharos, Rand McNally, Tele Atlas, TeleNav, TopTable.com, Yahoo! and Zillow. deCarta is privately held and headquartered in San Jose, California with international offices in the UK and China. http://www.decarta.com.deCarta, the deCarta logo and Drill Down Server are trademarks or registered trademarks of deCarta, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. All other product or company names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.
Chris Blake (chris@msrcommunications.com)Phone: 415-987-0662