''Google Earth and MapmyIndia are as different as chalk and cheese''

Looking for directions to the latest restaurant in town or your relative's residence, but can't seem to find your way? Delhi-based CE Info Systems has launched detailed road maps available on mobiles, which promise to guide you through every nook and corner of Indian streets. In an interview with Stuti Das of Dataquest, CE Info Systems' managing director, Rakesh Verma talks about the idea behind the concept.

What was the concept behind maps on mobiles?

We wanted to provide all search services relating to maps and roads, generally available on the Internet, on a mobile phone. At the same time taking into consideration the limiting factor of the mobile phone screen size along with certain technological factors as well. Currently we provide maps on mobiles only on the so-called high-end phones equipped with GPRS for online data connectivity but we believe that soon most of these high-end phones will be easily available for the common people.

Providing maps on mobiles would benefit users by giving them maps and directions in real time, for instance, if any user is stuck in any city in India, he can immediately find his way out from that place by using MapmyIndia on mobile. Since it will be first-time right information, it would also increase his efficiency.

...and the technology?

We believe in using technology along with 'Art', which we term as human engineering, that is, how you present technology to the end user. We are using an in-built GIS engine indigenously developed by CE Info Systems for providing maps on mobile. Our proprietary technology ensures that every map-view does not use up more than 3 KB of download.

We are presently using the Web 2.0 platform for the overall architecture. For instance, one of the websites is offering information about the location of ATMs in Delhi and we are offering information about the Delhi roads. If an end user wants to know both about the location of ATMs and Delhi roads, he would have to see both these websites. It would save the end user time and effort and also enable quicker time to market. Also, so the user could get all this information on one website, we are using this platform for linking websites with relevant information. We call this 'participative technology'.

Even though there aren't many portals moving to the Web 2.0 platform, but during the next one-year, we would see portals gradually shifting to this platform.

How does MapmyIndia counter competition from Google Earth?

Google Earth and MapmyIndia are as different from each other as chalk and cheese. While Google Earth provides pictures, we provide detailed maps of roads in various cities in India. Unlike Google Earth, which includes picture maps of several countries, presently we only provide road maps of Indian cities, as we believe that we know India well.

If Google does decide to introduce Google Maps in future, we would only welcome the competition, here are bound to be comparisons with Google Maps and the superior quality of our maps would swing the users in our favor.

Could you elaborate on your plans for the future?

We have a comprehensive strategy in place for both operators and direct consumers. We have signed agreements with service operators for providing maps on mobiles for their subscribers and provide services to direct consumers also. For instance, NRIs who require information about roads etc can avail of our services from their mobile itself by paying Rs 100 per month only.