Overview
- A common problem with map systems is their inability to show users accurate point-of-interest (“POI”) locations. For example, a user trying to go to a jewelry store in the middle of a mall is simply told by a mapping system to go to the mall’s general location, which is a problem because most malls are city blocks wide! Similarly, a golfer trying to get to a new 18-hole golf course is directed to the very center of the golf course but isn’t told where the actual entrance to the golf course is! Geopoint fixes these problems. With Geopoint, users and managers of locations can correct and add to the pre-existing map data, telling other uses where the jewelry store within the mall lies, or where the actual golf course entrance is.
- A similar problem arises with location reviews and other qualitative useful bits of information. A traveler may be able to search for golf courses in the area, but how can one know which golf course is best? When in a new city, one can use Yellow Pages to find the coffee shops, but which coffee shop serves the best espressos? Geopoint solves this problem the same way it solves inaccurate POI positions: user updates. Geopoint’s maps are insanely accurate because they use information coming from the crowd of users to constantly update, not only the geo positions, but also “qualitative” review information.
- Simply put, Geopoint technological innovations allows map end users and managers of businesses to easily edit and correct points-of-interests (POIs) to accurately reflect real world locations and up-to-date reviews.
Features and Applications
See the GEOPOINT Portfolio Lifecycle Chart.
| User Updatable Geo Locations | The Geopoint Mapping Architecture is dynamic: geographic map location data is updatable by end users and/or the managers of business associated with the points of interest. With Geopoint, a user can easily correct an incorrect location and also provide more detail on difficult to map places such as golf courses, airport terminals, and small mall kiosks. |
| User Updatable Reviews | Yesteryear mapping services would only provide basic information such as a street address and a pin associated with the address. Geopoint goes far deeper by incorporating qualitative information such as pictures, reviews, and other relevant information to dramatically enhance a user’s search experience. |
GEOPOINT Innovator
Keith Kreft began his engineering career in the automotive service industry in 1973 developing engine and exhaust analyzers. As Vice President of Engineering for the Diagnostics division of Snap-on Tools, he envisioned and guided the development of Snap-on’s most successful line of hand-held diagnostic products. During his time there, he was awarded 11 patents in the area of Automotive System Testing. But while regularly traveling on business, Keith was frustrated by the overall lack of quality in the information shown on travel maps. An avid golfer, he was dismayed that his mapping system routed him to a utility entrance of a golf course, instead of the golf course’s actual entrance. Immediately, he saw an opportunity to add a “Snap-on” level of quality to these maps by developing improved methods of collecting, organizing, updating, and displaying points of interest on these maps. In 2003, he founded Never-Search, and directed the development of an innovative mapping system, which among other things, employed a hierarchical folder system to control the display of qualitative information on different types of points of interest, simultaneously. He currently holds 6 patents in the area of Information Mapping.