Mobile Maps Come Indoors

Think of the layout and contents of your local supermarket as if it were a geographic feature, as if it were a large polygon populated with other polygons, lines and points - where these represent aisles, shelves and items.  Now, imagine that available on your iPhone or Android or Blackberry.


Or, more simply, the next time you're in a giant mall or shopping center, how'd you like to have the mall map on your smartphone with the ability to find stores, merchandise, movie times, etc.?

A new generation of apps has appeared for iPhone.  FastMall and Micello present mall and/or store basemaps on mobile devices, with a search engine. Mall Maps does, too.

PointInside is the only Android offering to date.

Given the nature of connectivity indoors, most services cache their maps onto the user's moible device.

Next month, Aisle411 will allow users to find individual products inside stores, and offer them rewards for using those stores.

Where is this going?  Where are you going where you could get lost trying to find what you're looking for?  Convention centers, stadiums, casinos, universities, medical centers...