deCarta Expands its L2 Geospatial Search to 120 Countries

Advanced Search Engine Combines POI Search and Geocoding in a Single Line Search Query Enabling Service Providers to Offer more Flexible, Useful Search Capabilities

deCarta, Inc., the leading independent LBS platform company today announced expanded coverage of its advanced local search technology, the L2 Geospatial Search Engine, to 120 countries including Europe, North America, and most major countries around the world. L2 is a high performance, scalable local search engine with single line input to enable a more intuitive user interface. deCarta sources and indexes premium map and POI (Points of Interest) content but also enables customers to simply index and control their own content using the L2 Index tools.

deCarta’s L2 has advantages over most other search engines in that it can be used as a pure geocoder for address search, or for POI search….or simultaneously as a combination of the two mixed in a single line search query – with the additional ability to tune this behavior at runtime. This gives developers maximum flexibility and creativity in producing their mobile and desktop applications. The new expanded country coverage now enables deCarta customers to offer truly global services.

The L2 Search engine is an integral component of deCarta’s LBS platform which provides specialized geospatial technologies for maps, routing, navigation, geocoding, local search and geo-data integration and processing. deCarta offers two deployment models for its LBS platform: a Hosted LBS Platform Service (PaaS) or, alternatively, customers can self-host the platform either on-premise or in a cloud service such as Amazon’s AWS. Both approaches utilize deCarta’s advanced REST API architecture and can scale to support billions of maps and searches and millions of users per month.

L2 enables deCarta’s customers to offer very flexible, advanced local search capabilities that are on par with Google Maps but beyond other search engines. Examples include:

Single line entry of POI or address or both
Fast typeahead, predictive entry – ideal for mobile devices and web interfaces
High tolerance for misspellings and partial entries
Random ordering of address parameters
Search for a POI near a POI, such as:
- “Coffee near XYZ company”
- “Restaurants on Main Street”
- “ATMs near AMC Theater”
Search for POI near a specific address, i.e. “Parking near 1234 Main Street”

Furthermore, the ability to integrate L2 with deCarta’s patented “Search Along A Route” technology gives automotive OEMs and Telematics Service Providers the ability to offer more advanced and helpful “Driver-Centric” connected car services.

“We are excited by the market reaction to L2 since its introduction last year,” said J. Kim Fennell, CEO of deCarta. “We’re winning business competing with, and in some cases replacing, major local search engines such as Google Maps based on the merits of L2’s technology advantages, customization capabilities, flexible content offerings, less restrictive license terms and our superior customer service – all of which creates a more satisfied customer experience.”

The ability to integrate, merge, process and search on multiple types of map and POI content – globally – is difficult to do well. deCarta leverages its deep geospatial experience to make this data integration possible in L2. deCarta offers a “house blend” of premium map and POI content with L2. It works closely with worldwide and regional map data providers including TomTom, Nokia/HERE, OpenStreetMap (OSM), AND, Sensis, IPC, Nav2 and eMapgo; as well as leading POI providers and other content sources (traffic, parking, weather, speed cameras, etc). deCarta integrates and de-duplicates multiple content sources for optimum search results.

Of special note, deCarta uniquely provides the tools to let companies index and search on their own content for maximum control and commercial advantage. This content can stand alone or be merged with industry map and POI content. Customers can “boost” content and control rankings to suit their needs. These capabilities provide huge benefits for local search companies, Automotive OEMs and Telematics Service Providers seeking to offer their users the best customer care and connected car services.

For more information on L2, please visit deCarta’s web site at www.decarta.com or go straight to the demo at http://labs.decarta.com. Developers can find more technical details at deCarta’s DevZone at http://developer.decarta.com/

About deCarta
deCarta is the leading independent, global LBS platform technology company. It provides specialized geospatial technologies for online mapping, routing, navigation, geocoding, local search and geo-data integration and processing. The company’s platform is used by leading high volume LBS applications and services in the mobile, internet, enterprise-fleet and automotive markets where scalability, flexibility and reliability are vital. deCarta’s customers and technology partners include Samsung, Inrix, T-Mobile, FullPower MotionX GPS Drive, Appello, Denso, Ford, GM OnStar, Masternaut, Wireless Matrix, eMapgo, Nokia/HERE, Spot-On-Time, Telstra/Sensis, TomTom, WHERE/eBay. deCarta is privately held and headquartered in San Jose, California with international offices and distributors in Germany, China, Brazil and South Africa. www.decarta.com.