Commentary

Google Maps Alternative Displays Business Icon, Customizes Search

Mapping app Nexit launched earlier this month with a feature that enables travelers to search by multiple preferences, such as a dog-friendly hotel under $150 per night with a gluten-free restaurant and a gas station nearby.

The Nexit app is linked to the data-collection company Interstate Data USA for travelers. Interstate Data is supported by funding of about $1.1 million by unknown investors. The product is called TravMatix, according to crunchbase.

Both companies — Nexit and Interstate Data — were founded by Vincent Ebuh and David Carter as Internet64.net in 1999.

I've been spending a lot of time traveling by car from my locations in Wyoming to California and back again, and will give this app a try on my next trip. Basically because this app displays the name and types of businesses along the way in the direction the traveler travels, rather than identifying businesses “nearby,” like Google Maps, which could reroute the traveler in the opposite direction.

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Nexit, which covers the U.S., launched with $10 million in funding, also from undisclosed backers. It’s available for the Apple iOS operating systems, with plans to become available for Android.

The idea is to help drivers customize the perfect road trip by finding exactly what they want, when they need it, on the road they travel through providing information about businesses along the way.

The app serves information about the businesses and amenities at the upcoming exists. Icons from companies like Dunkin' Donuts or Shell Gas with prices at that location help commuters to easily identify the businesses as well as displaying the exit number. The app also offers the usual features from Google Maps and others like turn-by-turn voice and visual directions.

The user routes their destination and in a map provides exit numbers, business name, and if it’s a gas station, for example, the price per gallon for gas.

In the works is a feature that will enable users to create an account to save trips, preferences and share travel information, according to the company’s FAQ on its website.

It’s not clear whether Nexit or Interstate Data are compensated for serving up business names in its app, perhaps for marketing purposes, but the company’s terms and conditions provides insight on a service -- or whether that service is for users or businesses.

Those interested can read the description under the header of “Content” here.

 

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