What do you do to find a way if you visit an unknown area? Ask Somebody passing by or use a GPS system on Smartphones? People of Bangalore have now one more option. Onze Technologies India Pvt Ltd introduces Latlong, a location search and driving directions service in the easy to use SMS platform, wherein, people can search WHERE a place is and also HOW to get there from any other place in Bangalore. The service developed by 4 former Infosys engineers helps people in Bangalore get to their destination.
The service has been tailored to address the unique market requirements of India where people are not used to navigation maps and location based services are yet to catch up. Onze was founded with the aim of building India’s best Location Based Service.
“There are a lot of challenges that the LBS industry in India is facing currently and most important of these is availability of accurate GIS (Geographic Information System). The problem lies in the fact that the current GIS data has been built for other requirements and not for LBS” says Sudarshan H S, CEO of Onze Technologies.
The founders of Latlong, 4 former Infosys engineers– Sudarshan HS, Pavaman Athani, Sairam Rajamani and Rahul RS- combined their expertise in the fields of product development and running it to start an innovative search and directions service based on maps developed in-house. Latlong overcomes the usual shortcomings that hinder the growth of such services in India by being programmed to function through the text platform.
The latter feature gains prominence in the backdrop of Preference for low feature handsets in India. Though the mobile subscriber base is growing in the country, there is a mindset to purchase the handset for basic utility service which is voice. But these handsets are not in a position to support VAS such as GPRS.
The SMS service is available free of charge and all you pay is the standard SMS rate according to your plan. It needs no subscription. The Latlong system is equipped to understand the customers’ request and gives them what they want – directions!
It can be used to look for restaurants, pharmacies, shopping centres, petrol bunks, ATMs etc., in Bangalore and can also be used to get directions to go to the nearest cinema that is playing your favourite movie or locate the pharmacy on your route home that stocks the product you need. It has been found that users also look for localities and roads.
The service is reliable and involves very little waiting time. The reply back time varies from 3 seconds to 1 minute depending on the mobile operator’s message traffic congestion and availability of signals.
The example usages of LatLong are:
Example 1: Jayanagar 4th Block TO MG Road
Example 2: INOX
Example 3: Mekri circle TO ESI Hospital
Example 4: SBI atm NEAR M G Road
You will get a reply SMS with the exact location and directions to reach the place from a prominent landmark.
Latlong could easily become The Location Based service in India by being affordable and accessible to all classes of users. The reliability of the service and minimal waiting time involved clubbed with non-requirement of smart phones are sure to set Latlong a league above other Location based services already available in the market.