Smartphone map creator Point Inside has bagged its first airline customer after Continental launched the airport mapping service within its iPhone app this week.
The Seattle-based software company inked the deal with Continental so that its interactive maps are available for every airport that Continental serves in the US and some overseas.
Each map includes detailed information about a particular airport such as gates, toilets, restaurants and lounges.
However, Point Inside's raison d'etre is the pinpointing part of the service. The system works by pinpointing a user’s location within an airport using what the company calls its SmartFix technology – a way of tracking the device within the facility via existing GPS or wi-fi systems and calibrating the location onto the map.
However, the company has recognised the difficulty GPS devices often have within buildings, claiming that if such a method is “inaccurate, as is often the case indoors, SmartFix prompts the user to provide her own position by selecting a nearby landmark”.
Point Inside is already expanding outside of North America and recently rolled out to include some of the major hubs in Europe and the Far East.