Web site’s 3-D maps offer virtual visits
By Jesse Noyes Boston Herald Business Reporter
Wednesday, May 30, 2007 - Updated: 03:13 AM EST
EveryScape is hoping people will see the world from its perspective.
The
Waltham-based start-up is in the midst of building online 3-D maps of
nine big cities, including Boston.
EveryScape’s
product lets users explore cities from a street-level point-of-view.
Photographs shot from an automobile are taken and then assembled
together to create a 3-D, lifelike map of a city, where a user can
travel down streets and even get a look inside local businesses.
But
with major players such as Google and Microsoft involvedin the mapping
scene, EveryScape has some tough competition.
For
instance, Google announced a 360 degree viewing ability called Street
View to its popular maps application yesterday. Microsoft is eyeing
similiar products.
But
Jim Schoonmaker, chief executive of EveryScape, said what sets the
start-up apart from bigger companies is that regular users are allowed
to contribute content and information about individual cities.
“They actually help us build this content,” Schoonmaker said.
User contributions can range from adding Web-site links related to
various locations found in the online maps to actually going out and
capturing images from the tops of cars. Users would be rewarded for
adding to the maps, but Schoonmaker wouldn’t say how.
Another
key feature to Every-Scape is the ability to enter businesses found
inside the digital maps like restaurants, hotels and shops. This is one
way EveryScape plans to make money. For a fee, businesses could allow
users to see internal shots while viewing the maps. Once inside, a
visitor could look at menus or even reviews, he said.
“You
can think of it as an advertisement and really sophisticated
advertisement for the restaurants,” Schoonmaker said.
E-mail
Printable
Popular
