deCarta Awarded Patent for Search Along A Route by USPTO

Patent covers a more driver-centric way to find places along a route

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Sep 11, 2013, 02:00 ET

SAN JOSE, Calif., Sept. 11, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- deCarta, Inc., the leading independent LBS technology company, announced today that it has been awarded a patent by the USPTO covering a better way for searching for places along a route. deCarta's Search Along A Route (SAAR) technology is a "driver-centric" search, meaning it returns only the relevant results for drivers looking for Points of Interest (POIs) with minimal detour off their current route. This differs from other search technology used in navigation applications today that look for places in a radius around the current location of the driver, then return results often inconvenient to the driver, including places that have already been passed.

deCarta's new patent (US #8401786) covers the ability to generate search results for places where the total time or distance to get to the result and back on route is less than a driver-set maximum. The intellectual property covered in the patent is available now as part of deCarta's L2 local search engine and is available for automotive OEMs. Tier1s, telematics service providers and mobile app developers.

Most drivers have experienced the frustration of using their navigation apps to search for POIs, only to discover that the "closest one" is either behind them or requires a significant detour from the current driving direction. Today, most navigation apps use "point-and-radius" search around the current location of the vehicle and show results based on linear distance without considering the actual deviation time from the driver's route.

deCarta believes that users prefer to get search results that are in front of them and with a minimal detour from their current route measured in either time or distance driven. For example, most drivers looking for a gas station would prefer to drive a few miles further to find a station right along their current road, as opposed to one that is closer "as the crow flies", but takes twice as long to get to because of inconvenient backtracking or complex detours.

"Most of the local search being implemented in navigation apps today is derived from on-line search portals with little regard for driver convenience," said J. Kim Fennell, CEO of deCarta. "Our SAAR technology is designed to be driver-centric, which means generating results the way a driver wants to see them. This, combined with deCarta's L2 search engine and our navigation expertise means we can enable our customers to deliver the very best navigation solutions to their users."

Customers can use deCarta's L2 advanced geosearch technology with the SAAR technology as a hosted service offering or as licensed software. A video demonstrating SAAR is available at http://bit.ly/1apR8IC. To test deCarta's SAAR, visit http://labs.decarta.com or register for deCarta's DevZone at http://developer.decarta.com.

Contact: [email protected]

SOURCE deCarta, Inc.