Getting things started a day early, Everyscape went live on Monday with its Real World Online platform in four U.S. cities: Aspen, Boston, Miami and New York. As we previously reported, the new interactive mapping platform gives users both street-level and, in some cases, interior access to landmarks, hotels and stores in select cities.
Beginning Monday, users will be able to explore the streets of Boston and New York, look up any location, and search for businesses by category or name, according to the company. In Miami and Aspen, the company has started what it calls the second phase of development, which entails building out private spaces by collaborating with the community and local businesses. In the case of the former, this is done by recruiting thousands of local "Scape Artists," who help augment the Real World Online by capturing the necessary imagery needed to build out a given virtual geographic region.
Everyscape says it will simultaneously reach out to businesses and offer them the ability to showcase their own physical spaces with either a "Storefront Listing" or a "MiniScape" that provides a 3D experience of interiors. The latter provides a view of virtual foot traffic and an opportunity to highlight reviews, menus, sales and other information.
"What you see today is a small taste of the EveryScape platform," said Jim Schoonmaker, president and CEO of EveryScape, in a statement on Monday. "The Real World Online is a canvas, a work in progress that will rely on the community to determine its ultimate shape by adding discourse, texture and color."
As far as expanding that canvas, Everyscape says the ultimate goal is to include virtual access across metropolitan, suburban and rural areas.
A short preview video can be peeped here.
