PointAsia hits the spot
It's quite difficult for Neng to explain to her friends the venue for her wedding party in a distant province, but she no loner needs to worry as she can access the PointAsia.com website and mark the exact location of her house on a three-dimensional image map so her friends can see the route easily.
With the launch of a new mapping service by PointAsia.com, people can now access a 3D map of the country free of charge, and importantly, customise the map according to their own preferences. "They can choose an area they want and then place any location, such as their house, on the map, to allow others to see the way," said the company's executive vice president Vivatvong Vichit-Vadakan. He said the company had 3D maps which blend a satellite image with the Thailand map, allowing people to see the map in 3D. The service is similar to Google Earth but it covers only Thailand. "We provide maps of the whole country at ratios of 1:4,000 to 1:20,000. The map includes more than 100,000 landmarks," he said. Under the service, the company also offers various kinds of applications including search, point-of-interest, and navigation. They can also use a service called Point Me to put their particular places on the map and then allow friends to access the customised map through the "Me & Gang" service. "We also hope to encourage people to use the 3D map and make it a community service," he said. Meanwhile, people will be able to use the map to find the best route to get to any destination using the navigation function. He said this service would allow users to enter their present location along with the destination and the system would calculate a recommended route. Around 10,000 people are now using the service. The company expects the number will increase to 200,000 in the next few months. "We plan to offer the service for free only to those who have no commercial purposes," he said. The company plans to charge commercial businesses for the 3D map service. As the map can be applied for use in several industries including logistics, restaurants, real estate and tourism, the company will sell its core engine map to allow businesses to develop mapping applications on top of the 3D base map. For example, a restaurant chain can apply the technology to place its various locations on the map. Once users click on their icon, the entire chain will appear on the map, allowing users to know which outlet is closest to their location. Logistics companies can use the map to manage their fleets. Vivatvong said there were around 10 corporate users for the company's mapping service at this stage and it aimed to have more than 100 corporate users in the next 12 months.
Asina Pornwasin The Nation
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