Google maps are great for navigating to an address, but once
you arrive, it's up to you to find the office, meeting room or vendor inside.
Now Micello takes over where conventional navigators leave off, mapping your
route inside buildings, malls, convention centers and other points of interest.
"Micello is quite literally Google maps for the insides
of buildings," said Ankit Agarwal, founder and CEO
of Micello. "We are mapping the last unchartered territory—the last mile—between
the front door and where you are going. We are building the foundation for an
indoor location-based services market."
Gartner predicts that location-based services will exceed
$2.2 billion in 2009, and grow to as much as $8 billion by 2011. Micello plans
to tap this market by charging fees to subscribing venues to provision the
content at their location on Micello maps.
"We plan to make money from premium content, not
ads," said Agarwal. "We will charge to put premium content on our
maps. For example, a conference organizer can pay to add the exhibitors booths
and information about what is happening at that location, but it will only
appear for the two or three days of the conference."
Available as a free service to users of the iPhone, BlackBerry,
Palm or Android mobile handsets, Micello displays the Google maps to an address
adorned with icons showing where indoor maps are available. Once the user
arrives at an address, clicking on the Micello icon overlays the indoor map.
Search for a particular venue inside, and Micello highlights a recommended
route from your current location. Future versions will also provide directions
from your car in the parking lot, as well as store-to-store directions once
inside a mall.
Micello also plans to personalize maps by highlighting items
that may be of interest to users based on their profile and history, as well as
allow them to share their location with Facebook friends, Twitter followers or
LinkedIn contacts. In addition, users will be encouraged to crowd-source
information about destinations by posting reviews about points of interest.
When Micello becomes available later this fall for the
iPhone, it will come with maps for 150 points of interest in the Bay Area, with
the rest of California slated for
mapping by the end of the year. The other major cities, plus versions for BlackBerry,
Palm and Android, are promised by the end of 2010, at which time Micello
estimates it will have 5,000 shopping malls, 10,000 college campuses and 400
convention centers in its growing database. Locations will also include
airports, stadiums, theme parks, golf courses, fitness centers and other venues
where people naturally congregate.
