December 18th, 2007
The best mobile application idea I can think of..shopping mall geolocation services!!
You know how confusing shopping mall layouts can be? Oh sure, most malls have maps, but numbering schemes for specific stores often follow no logical order. I mean the mall map says Wet Seal is across from Macy’s but I just don’t see it.
Ever been there.. lost in the mall?
Well, I have an idea for an application that just might help. It would be maps of shopping malls in your metro area, downloadable to your cell. But that’s just the start of it.
I would then envision participating shopping centers being outfitted with technology that could hone in on your cell signal when you activate this application on your cell.
If you are looking for a specific store in the mall, you would then enter a voice command: such as “Wet Seal.”
Your request would go to a database located on a server in the mall. The server would then retrieve Wet Seal’s location in the mall from the database, and then compare that location with where you are at present. Optimally, this information could be derived from triangulating the source of your cell signal. More practically, your location could be obtained by you reciting the name of the nearest store to your current position.
Using your current location as Point A, and your desired destination within the mall as Point B, you would then receive a set of directions on your phone. You then should be able to play them back as talking directions. Just like your larger-world, outside-the-mall GPS or navigation system may be able to do right now.
I even have a couple of revenue models in mind. This service could be a value-add for carriers, who might charge shopping malls a modest participation fee for being in the database. Or better yet, individual retailers who would like to be in their mall’s geolocator database could pay for ads that would pop up when consumers who use this geolocator technology request the location of the participating stores.
Hey maybe this could be a Google Android utility?
Readers, what do you think of this idea?
Russell Shaw is an enterprise computing journalist, analyst and author based in Portland, Oregon. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
