Mapping meets mobile

SANTA CLARA, CALIF. -- Smart2go, bv Nokia, is a mapping and navigation application that can be downloaded for free at smart2go.com and allows people with GPS-equipped mobile devices to view their position on a map and search the area for local businesses, points of interest and services.

Ralph Kunz, who heads up Nokia's multimedia division that oversees search and location-based tools including navigation, spoke today at a local search conference in Silicon Valley about the company's efforts to bring interactive maps to a broader audience of mobile-device users.

While he was demonstrating the technology on his high-tech location-aware phone, the phone suddenly rang, interrupting the demonstration, which featured a virtual flyover of the area around the conference hotel. "Can I call you back?" Kunz asked the caller, to the amusement of the audience. "At least you can see it's not some kind of showcase device -- it really works as a phone as well," he recovered.

Other conference speakers noted a definite movement to bring more search tools to phones, and one speaker referenced a "three-screen" approach to advertising that includes PCs, TVs and mobile devices. Video is on the grow, say conference panelists, with local-search companies seeking ways integrate video content.

And they say user-generated content is also an important ingredient these days in keeping search content relevant and drawing more online eyeballs, which advertisers need and love. Otherwise, local-search providers may find themselves facing some relevancy issues (see Wikipedia vs. Encyclopedia Brittanica).

Another buzzword here in mobile technologies is  "multi-modal," which refers to phone technologies that can accept input and offer output by either voice or text, depending on consumer convenience and preference. Tellme is among the local-search companies making strides in this space. It's obviously easier to give voice commands over a mobile device when the user is driving, for example, but if you're trying to use the device in a crowded stadium or restaurant the text input/output option may work better.

(Then again, better check with Ms. Manners to find out if you should be using your mobile device in a restaurant to begin with.)

While mobile devices are becoming increasingly sophisticated, local-search experts noted that mobile users still want to be able to use mobile devices in concert with their PCs, so that data can be exchanged both ways.

--Glenn Roberts, Jr., Inman News

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