The Praized Blog

Read in the latest issue of Checkerspot, the official magazine of the The Canadian Wildlife Federation, an article about eco-friendly burials.

Natural burial grounds do more than just reduce pollutants otherwise caused by cremation and traditional burials. Some eco-cemeteries function as wild spaces, marking graves with local rocks and flora rather than headstones, keeping track of burial plots through GPS locators.

What it means: the last thing you will be remembered for is a lat/long number… That’s a mapping mash-up waiting to happen, virtual burial grounds displayed on a worldwide map.

Nokia announced this morning at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona the launch of their Maps 2.0 service, for its Series 60 and 40 phones. According to the BBC News Web site,

Nokia has launched navigation tools designed to make the paper street map obsolete for pedestrians. The firm’s next generation of digital maps gives real-time walking directions on the mobile phone screen, just like sat-nav systems which guide drivers. “Nokia is taking navigation services out of the car so it can always be with you,” said Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, president and CEO of the firm. “Struggling with oversized paper maps will become a thing of the past.”

What it means: another local application attached to mobile devices. This one is squarely competing against any mapping web site or any site that relies heavily on mapping as a main attraction. It could also be a threat to paper travel guides (see also Travel Guides Still Selling Well, Saved by Portability) (pictures by Nokia)

This morning’s Wall Street Journal summarizes the various elements of Google’s mobile strategy:

• Developed Android software for mobile phones.
• Made Google applications — including email, chat and mapping — available on cellphones.
• Sells advertisements for certain Web sites accessed by cellphone.
• Enables users to do Web and business searches with cellphone browsers, by text message or with a call.
• Is testing an advanced wireless network at Google headquarters.
• Operates a free Wi-Fi network in Mountain View, Calif.
• Expected to bid for wireless spectrum in a January FCC auction.

What it means: very serious, multi-prong wireless strategy. Google definitely sees the opportunity in mobile. BTW, I find myself blogging more and more about mobile internet. This must mean something…

(via eWeek and Reuters)

Nokia said on Oct. 1 it will offer $8.1 billion for U.S.-based digital map supplier Navteq in one of its largest takeovers ever, but its shares fell as analysts dubbed the deal “expensive.” The acquisition would give the world’s top cellphone maker—which is looking for new revenue sources as the cellphone industry matures—a stronghold in the navigation business, one of the fastest-growing segments in the technology industry.

What it means: in a deal that underlines the importance of mobile in the local space (and vice-versa!), Nokia makes its biggest bet so far and buys an important piece of the local search ecosystem. I think it confirms some of the things I was writing about last week in my When will Mobile Become the Next Big Thing? post.

(via OnlineMediaDaily)

Geospatial data integration company Geosemble announced GeoPrism, a lead generation service that is the first to use artificial intelligence (AI) techniques to automatically generate sales leads based on satellite imagery. Using Geosemble’s map fusion and image analysis technology, swimming pools, roofs in need of repair, cracked driveways, large open backyards, etc.–can be “seen” from above, and automatically cross-referenced with city parcel data to extract the names and addresses of their owners. The resulting data are then provided to manufacturers of swimming pools and cleaning supplies, yard furniture, storage unit manufacturers, landscapers, and even contractors vying to fill open spaces with garage and house additions and backyard offices. (…)

What it means: what a smart way to use and potentially monetize existing satellite data in a local context. These guys should try to partner with directory publishers (and vice-versa).

Today is the first day of TechCrunch 40, a Web 2.0 conference organized by the TechCrunch techology blog. The organizers have selected 40 start-ups that are going to announce and demo their product during the conference. In addition, they have a demo pit where 99 companies (who are not in the top 40) will also demo their new products.

I just got an e-mail from one of those companies, BC-based Lat49.com. They want to build a map-based advertising network. The following illustrates how it works:

“Advertisers buy the exclusive advertising rights to map real estate using the lat49 self-serve interface. An advertiser’s ad placements display each time a site visitor using a lat49 partner map views the advertiser’s territory. Land parcels can be bought at multiple zoom levels to suit the goals of the particular advertising campaign. Owning the map’s most zoomed out country view will support branding initiatives while local advertisers may choose to regionally tune their messaging and target the local, street, neighborhood, or urban level audiences.”

What it means: the concept is interesting as more and more sites are using maps powered by Google, Yahoo or MSN and mapping is a very high usage category on the Web. Two main challenges though: getting map-based sites to use their ad serving technology and getting enough advertisers on board to make it worthwhile for publishers.

The Microsoft Virtual Earth team just announced their latest update. It includes a new rendered map style that they’ve been calling ‘hill shaded’ which gives their road style maps the ability to show elevation. You can see what it looks like on their blog.

In addition, all of these cities/regions have new or expanded Aerial imagery and most have textured 3D buildings and cityscapes

Canada: Hamilton, Quebec, Toronto (Montreal is in their next release)

Europe: Toulouse France, Eastbourne UK

United States: Birmingham, Huntsville, Montgomery, Mobile, Phoenix (expanded), Arden, Denver (expanded), Ft. Lauderdale, Jacksonville, West Palm Beach, Tallahassee, Fort Myers, Tampa West, St Petersburg, Coral Gables, Cape Coral West, Pembroke Pines, Orlando, Hialea, Columbus GA, Jackson, Oak Park IL, Rockford IL, Ohare IL, Baton Rouge, Shreveport New Orleans, Metarie, Jersey City, Elizabeth, East Ruth, Newark, Paterson, Brooklyn, Niagara Falls, Portland (expanded), Nashville, Chattanooga, Milwaukee

What it means: Microsoft continues moving towards the creation of a virtual 3D world. I think most people do not see the full value at this point but I’m convinced we’ll be able to do local shopping in MSN Virtual Earth within a three to five-year period.

A selection of some of the praized-worthy news in the last few days:

1) ContactAtOnce!, a provider of presence-aware solutions (click-to-call, IM, etc.) just announced that BargainNews.com, one of their customers, improved the conversion rate of its auto classified website by 77% after adding the ContactAtOnce! service (see screenshot below) to their enhanced advertising packages.

2) Bret Taylor and Jim Norris (both seen below), two of the masterminds behind Google Maps and several other Google products, have joined Benchmark Capital as “Entrepreneurs in Residence.” This gives them paid positions to hang out at Benchmark’s offices on Silicon Valley’s Sand Hill Road and think through starting a business. They have a specific idea in mind, but are secretive about it, telling VentureBeat only that it’s a “consumer Internet” company. I’ve had the chance to work closely with Bret when Google launched their Local site in Canada and it was great fun. I wish them both good luck! (via VentureBeat)

3) R.H. Donnelley officially launched DexKnows.com, their new local search web site powered by Local Matters (previously known as Dexonline.com). It now includes comparison shopping, a better mapping experience and some personalization tools.

4) Yellow Pages Group in Canada released their latest heading modifications. It’s always interesting as it gives us a perspective into changes in culture and society. Amongst others, Pilates, Organic Products, Geothermal Energy, Tapas, Brunch, Vegetarian & Vegan Foods are in. Telephone Booths, Shoulder Pads, Chewing Gum and Buttonhole Makers are out.

(via the Google Lat-Long Blog)

Google Maps has offered a collection of reviews assembled from some of the finest sources on the web for some time, but now we’re augmenting those with reviews from an even better source: you — and, we hope, millions of other opinionated Google users. Search for your favorite places and click on the “More Info” link. From there, click on “Write a Review” to start giving your two cents.

What it means: user reviews in a local search site environment are becoming more and more a must-have feature. You should be looking at it if you operate in that space. By the way, this new Google Maps feature means that they are slowly moving from a content aggregation strategy to a content creation strategy in their local search section.

(via O’Reilly Radar)

Everyscape aims to be able to show you the whole world — both inside and out — from its website. It plans to do this with normal 2D photos. Using proprietary technology Everyscape will stitch these photos together and 3D-ify them. The result is a pan-n-scan world accessible through a Flash viewer.

When looking at their viewer you are presented with small, green arrows that direct you around their representation of the realworld. When you click one of the arrows you zoom though the 3D’d photo (a neat affect). It’s not just outside some of the arrows will take you inside buildings. Throughout the app you’ll see web links and info boxes in the form of small blue circles. You can currently check out San Francisco’s Union Square with the Everyscape
viewer.

To make their representation of the world Everyscape needs to know the lat-long and the orientation of the camera when a picture was taken. This data is used to stitch the photos together and place them in the world. The comparisons to Microsoft’s Photosynth are very obvious. The models generated by Everyscape are less CPU-internsive to generate and require less data, but are not nearly as detailed — given Everyscape’s goal I am not sure that it needs to be. (…)

Everyscape is launching with San Francisco this fall. They told me that they would have ten cities by the end of the year. On the homepage they list San Francisco, Boston, New York , and Seattle as coming soon. They claim that takes three weeks for them to record a city (the same number that MS quoted at Where 2.0) so expect the roster to expand quickly after the initial batch. (…)

Everyscape is still determining their revenue model. They can easily embed advertising and local search into their application. There may be other methods of monetizing their “eye-level search”. Real estate agents would probably love to put their houses up in a viewer like this. (…)

Update: Techcrunch has more information about the various players in this space.

What it means: I had seen the Microsoft technology last year at Mix06 and it really excited me. More players in the field means more opportunities for technology licensing (and better prices!). I think I’ve said before I’m a big believer in 3D visual city navigation. I’m convinced that it will become a new way to do local searches in the future. In the demo above, you can even enter in the Salvatore Ferragamo store!