WEBVTT 00:00:00.001 --> 00:00:03.280 Hi, and welcome to the Location Insights Podcast. 00:00:03.440 --> 00:00:06.960 I'm your host, Kevin, the global marketing manager at unerry Inc. 00:00:07.280 --> 00:00:13.120 unerry is a location analytics platform and data insights company based in Tokyo, Japan. 00:00:13.139 --> 00:00:16.580 My guest for today's conversation is Michael Pasket. 00:00:16.900 --> 00:00:22.259 He's the VP of commercial real estate at MappedIn, aka the mall guy. 00:00:22.340 --> 00:00:23.220 Did I get that right? 00:00:23.460 --> 00:00:26.099 Yeah, you've been following my LinkedIn, I see. 00:00:26.420 --> 00:00:27.300 Yeah, yeah. 00:00:27.540 --> 00:00:28.980 Great to have you on the show. 00:00:29.140 --> 00:00:29.860 Welcome. 00:00:30.180 --> 00:00:31.220 Thanks for having me. 00:00:31.380 --> 00:00:34.740 Very excited, super excited to dive into everything. 00:00:34.980 --> 00:00:35.860 Thank you. 00:00:36.480 --> 00:00:38.240 Yeah, thanks for joining us. 00:00:38.560 --> 00:00:44.239 So what brought you into the location maps industry? 00:00:44.480 --> 00:00:47.840 I know we've talked before, you originally started 00:00:48.240 --> 00:00:56.320 back at Google with Google Maps, but if you can kind of briefly touch on that, how did you get involved with the whole mapping industry? 00:00:56.400 --> 00:00:59.520 Was that your first entry or did you do something else before then? 00:00:59.380 --> 00:01:00.980 Yeah, no, it's a great question. 00:01:01.219 --> 00:01:09.380 So my entry into the location mapping industry was not linear, and I actually, quite frankly, kind of stumbled upon it. 00:01:09.800 --> 00:01:12.600 Post-university, so I graduated with a marketing degree. 00:01:12.760 --> 00:01:18.920 Thought I wanted to do maybe something with marketing, but at the time of the event industry was what I wanted to do. 00:01:19.220 --> 00:01:21.620 I wanted to do on-site support, registration. 00:01:21.780 --> 00:01:24.180 The event industry is a beast. 00:01:24.340 --> 00:01:26.420 It's lively, high energy. 00:01:26.660 --> 00:01:29.940 And in my younger years, that is something I wanted to do. 00:01:30.360 --> 00:01:35.240 I had actually been applying to various jobs and working in them. 00:01:35.320 --> 00:01:39.800 And one of the jobs I was targeting was an event manager of some sort at Google. 00:01:39.760 --> 00:01:49.040 And I had asked one of my friends actually from university who was at Google if, you know, she could connect me with someone and I could have a conversation. 00:01:48.760 --> 00:01:49.240 conversation. 00:01:49.479 --> 00:01:53.400 She was, lo and behold, actually hiring for a sales job at the time. 00:01:53.479 --> 00:01:55.400 I believe it was called a partner manager. 00:01:55.960 --> 00:01:56.280 And 00:01:57.060 --> 00:01:58.500 I was like, sure, I'll take the interview. 00:01:58.740 --> 00:02:05.060 Lo and behold, it was for indoor Google Maps, specifically the team doing indoor mapping at Google. 00:02:05.600 --> 00:02:11.599 Took the interview, you know, the whole slew of interviews past that and ultimately landed in the job. 00:02:11.680 --> 00:02:13.599 And that was my first entry into the 00:02:14.120 --> 00:02:17.400 location mapping industry and absolutely loved it. 00:02:17.640 --> 00:02:18.600 Absolutely loved it. 00:02:18.920 --> 00:02:21.720 Found out how relevant mapping is in data 00:02:21.940 --> 00:02:32.980 day and just kind of kept trucking along of which then I landed at Mapped In and I've been here coming up on eight years I believe so 10 years of my life has been indoor mapping. 00:02:34.739 --> 00:02:35.620 Very cool. 00:02:35.860 --> 00:02:39.860 So you were were you based in California when you you were with Google? 00:02:40.099 --> 00:02:43.300 Yes, I was based in California, grew up in California. 00:02:43.540 --> 00:02:45.940 I was at the Mountain View office at 00:02:46.240 --> 00:02:52.000 a Google HQ and now I'm currently with MappedIn in Kitchener Waterloo over in Canada. 00:02:52.240 --> 00:02:52.720 So you agree. 00:02:54.000 --> 00:02:54.800 My wife is Canadian. 00:02:54.960 --> 00:02:55.680 Love is funny. 00:02:55.920 --> 00:02:56.480 Snow is great. 00:02:56.560 --> 00:02:57.680 I'll tell you that much. 00:02:58.080 --> 00:02:58.960 Definitely. 00:02:59.320 --> 00:03:02.120 And then let's kind of get into mapped in. 00:03:02.360 --> 00:03:06.440 So Mapped In is all about indoor mapping software and technology. 00:03:06.680 --> 00:03:10.360 But for listeners, maybe in simple terms, how would you define 00:03:10.920 --> 00:03:15.080 indoor navigation and and what it is and what do companies use it for. 00:03:15.400 --> 00:03:16.040 Absolutely. 00:03:16.280 --> 00:03:22.200 So I would say indoor navigation as you know a general term is the 00:03:23.280 --> 00:03:30.960 Wayfinding or the ability to understand contextually your surroundings and either discover 00:03:31.680 --> 00:03:36.480 or intend to get somewhere using an indoor mapping tool. 00:03:36.560 --> 00:03:43.280 And specifically mapped in, like one of the key things that I I talk through is mapped in, yes, we do wayfinding. 00:03:43.440 --> 00:03:44.800 Yes, we do navigation. 00:03:45.120 --> 00:03:51.920 Indoor mapping is so much larger than that, and navigation is just a byproduct of it. 00:03:52.000 --> 00:03:56.880 So it's one key function, a use case that indoor mapping solves for. 00:03:57.200 --> 00:03:57.520 And 00:03:58.320 --> 00:04:08.720 That's one thing obviously we can do what Mapdin provides is a platform to using AI digitize your floor plans to create a foundation. 00:04:09.040 --> 00:04:11.200 To then enable these different use cases. 00:04:11.360 --> 00:04:18.799 So yes, as everyone relates it to map equals wayfinding, we can do the wayfinding, but then there's asset tracking, there's occupancy. 00:04:19.039 --> 00:04:29.759 indoor location services and there's so much that goes into it and we help to create that foundation and then enable these different use cases of which obviously wayfinding is one. 00:04:30.199 --> 00:04:34.039 Majority of our clients use that as a product set of ours. 00:04:34.360 --> 00:04:38.759 I think that's a that's a good introduction to what Mapped In provides. 00:04:38.840 --> 00:04:42.280 You're all about wayfinding, indoor navigation. 00:04:42.500 --> 00:04:51.860 Do you also do outdoor navigation or it's pretty much exclusively all indoor and in buildings, inside retail, inside of shopping malls, that side of things? 00:04:51.680 --> 00:04:54.320 Yeah, I would say the majority of it is indoors. 00:04:54.640 --> 00:05:01.680 While yes, we can do like campuses, we can do b buildings and the interconnectivity of the outdoors. 00:05:02.080 --> 00:05:02.400 The 00:05:03.360 --> 00:05:11.039 Partners and the clients and people we work with specifically our property owners and having been from Google, I'll say like Google, Apple. 00:05:11.340 --> 00:05:14.860 Azure Maps, like they've all solved the outdoor side very, very well. 00:05:15.100 --> 00:05:21.020 The issue and the unskalable side of things for them is the indoors because it's all privately owned. 00:05:21.100 --> 00:05:25.420 So all of a sudden, instead of you having their hands on all of the outdoor data. 00:05:25.620 --> 00:05:28.340 They have to go and ask for permission for this indoor data. 00:05:28.419 --> 00:05:32.740 And the data internally is messy because there's no set standard 00:05:33.420 --> 00:05:36.220 So we help to solve that challenge. 00:05:36.300 --> 00:05:44.940 And specifically it's, in my opinion, a harder challenge because there's so much variability between that and just different parties 00:05:45.800 --> 00:05:48.840 that you have to go and talk to to unlock all of this data. 00:05:49.000 --> 00:05:53.160 So to answer your question, we do work within outdoors, but 00:05:53.880 --> 00:06:00.360 majority is the indoors and unlocking the indoor environments for their different use cases that require a map. 00:06:00.600 --> 00:06:01.400 No, that's very cool. 00:06:01.560 --> 00:06:06.040 I think that's definitely very important in these giant shopping malls where you're trying to find 00:06:06.139 --> 00:06:07.820 Where is that retail store? 00:06:07.900 --> 00:06:12.699 Where are the where's the shoe store that you're trying to buy a pair of new sneakers or something? 00:06:12.940 --> 00:06:14.300 And how do you get there? 00:06:14.540 --> 00:06:16.380 Use the indoor navigation system. 00:06:16.540 --> 00:06:18.860 And that's part of what you provide. 00:06:19.220 --> 00:06:19.860 Absolutely. 00:06:20.020 --> 00:06:28.820 And more specifically in a touch point or in a touch point that individuals are used to ingesting that side of data. 00:06:28.979 --> 00:06:29.540 So like 00:06:29.639 --> 00:06:36.680 Some people prefer a website, some people prefer a mobile app, some people prefer a digital signage, digital screen, depending on your region. 00:06:36.919 --> 00:06:39.400 Some people like there's different ways to 00:06:40.280 --> 00:06:51.400 view this indoor data, this indoor map, and we help to provide the map digitized in an easy way, no matter what you're used to. 00:06:52.280 --> 00:06:52.840 using. 00:06:53.159 --> 00:06:55.240 So in other words, like many different formats. 00:06:55.319 --> 00:07:02.680 So it could be a mobile app, could be a web page, could be um even like the touchscreen kiosk style inside the mole. 00:07:02.919 --> 00:07:03.319 Absolutely. 00:07:05.100 --> 00:07:05.500 Very cool. 00:07:05.980 --> 00:07:09.900 Mall, stadium, airport, train station, you name it. 00:07:10.140 --> 00:07:12.300 We very confidently have done it. 00:07:13.800 --> 00:07:21.720 And I read of a put on your technical docs that you have support for something called a blue dot technology 00:07:21.539 --> 00:07:26.900 Maybe for listeners at home, can you describe what is the blue dot technology and like how does it work? 00:07:27.300 --> 00:07:27.940 Yes. 00:07:28.259 --> 00:07:29.539 It's a great question. 00:07:29.780 --> 00:07:30.099 So 00:07:31.100 --> 00:07:38.700 What the blue dot technology in like layman terms is when you go onto Google or Apple Maps and you say, I need to go to 00:07:39.320 --> 00:07:50.680 insert store name from my house and you get in your car there will be a blue dot that follows you every single time that you turn down the street until you reach your location 00:07:51.120 --> 00:07:58.720 You'll often notice that that blue dot starts to go all wonky and crazy when you enter into the indoors 00:07:58.940 --> 00:08:00.540 So the blue dot is that. 00:08:00.700 --> 00:08:11.820 The reason why it becomes all wonky is that blue dot on mobile phones or in the outdoors, Apple and Google Maps, that uses satellites to triangulate where a user is. 00:08:12.039 --> 00:08:13.240 You know, more or less. 00:08:13.560 --> 00:08:14.840 The GPS signal. 00:08:15.159 --> 00:08:15.879 Exactly. 00:08:16.199 --> 00:08:21.479 And that's great when you're outdoors because there's little and minimal obstruction. 00:08:21.740 --> 00:08:29.100 The moment you step indoors, you've got concrete, you've got glass, you've got steel, you've got all these different material. 00:08:29.440 --> 00:08:32.560 that goes into creating the building paired with it's a big building. 00:08:32.640 --> 00:08:40.160 So you've got constant like obstruction to this GPS, which is why it's all wonky, which is why it's inaccurate and almost unusable. 00:08:40.400 --> 00:08:43.440 So that's the blue dot and that's why it doesn't work indoors. 00:08:44.060 --> 00:08:53.260 The blue dot can be utilized in different functions using other pieces of technology, whether it's hardware like beacons, RFID, ultra band. 00:08:53.640 --> 00:09:06.920 Whether it's sensor fusion, which we use a lot of, which is hardware less, we utilize technology that basically uses Wi-Fi, satellite, other types of signals to triangulate indoors to 00:09:07.420 --> 00:09:15.660 use and create a very accurate blue dot experience paired with like cameras, other types of 00:09:16.360 --> 00:09:17.399 Technologies. 00:09:17.800 --> 00:09:25.240 And we find that this really helps for all of the blue dot technologies and for the wayfinding. 00:09:25.399 --> 00:09:27.800 Like the key point here, I would say, is 00:09:28.220 --> 00:09:36.620 The blue dot for the indoors, natural human behavior, is typically contextual and for that first step. 00:09:36.700 --> 00:09:41.740 Like the first step is always the hardest of understanding, okay, I need to go to 00:09:42.220 --> 00:09:45.180 Zara, the store Zara, and I'm in the Dubai Mall. 00:09:45.340 --> 00:09:45.740 Cool. 00:09:45.820 --> 00:09:47.820 I understand it's on the East Wing. 00:09:48.140 --> 00:09:49.180 Where am I? 00:09:49.340 --> 00:09:53.100 So that blue dot and that indoor positioning is what it's formerly called. 00:09:53.520 --> 00:10:00.320 Helps to get that initial reading of where you are, which is why it can be important to use. 00:10:00.400 --> 00:10:02.640 And then natural human behavior is like, okay, cool. 00:10:02.720 --> 00:10:04.320 I need to go straight, left, right. 00:10:04.920 --> 00:10:13.560 straight to get to the store and they put it back in their pocket and start the walk, which is why our technologies tend to be hardware less. 00:10:13.720 --> 00:10:17.000 We typically recommend not to use hardware just because it's 00:10:17.160 --> 00:10:19.320 It adds costs, it's not scalable. 00:10:19.640 --> 00:10:29.720 And within all of that, it helps to it helps to determine and set forth that first step in the context. 00:10:30.740 --> 00:10:31.699 Right, right. 00:10:32.019 --> 00:10:32.980 Yeah, exactly. 00:10:33.220 --> 00:10:38.339 But we at we at unerry we handle basically two types of 00:10:38.360 --> 00:10:51.080 key data sets, the GPS side of things that as you mentioned works great outdoors where you have a clear view of the sky where the GPS satellites are located, but once a customer goes inside of a shopping mall 00:10:51.220 --> 00:10:58.260 Or like here in Japan where you have stores underground in subways, GPS is non not even existent there. 00:10:58.820 --> 00:10:59.940 Um so what 00:11:00.320 --> 00:11:10.800 We do in unerry is we have actually developed an open beacon platform called Beacon Bank where retailers can register their own beacons onto our platform. 00:11:10.940 --> 00:11:17.980 And then through our platform and app partners, we can recognize when customers visit to the stores. 00:11:18.300 --> 00:11:20.700 So we use the Bluetooth Beacon technology. 00:11:20.920 --> 00:11:27.160 That is not something new, but what we've done is platformed it and kind of opened it up as a network of beacons. 00:11:27.240 --> 00:11:28.920 We've created a network of fact. 00:11:29.440 --> 00:11:30.800 Or Bluetooth beacons. 00:11:31.120 --> 00:11:32.240 Which I think is brilliant. 00:11:32.320 --> 00:11:34.160 Like absolutely kudos to you guys. 00:11:34.320 --> 00:11:36.320 I think that's the way forward. 00:11:36.560 --> 00:11:41.520 Paired with that infrastructure can very easily be leveraged. 00:11:41.960 --> 00:11:44.120 For exactly what it is I'm talking about. 00:11:44.280 --> 00:11:54.200 Yes, we can still do the hardware list and all the side of things, but for individuals that already have it are utilizing it for your side of things, why not re-leverage it? 00:11:54.640 --> 00:12:02.000 paired with everything else to get bang for your buck and that blue dot for the contextual navigation. 00:12:03.240 --> 00:12:04.839 Right, right, exactly. 00:12:05.000 --> 00:12:10.920 Yeah, so just to clarify, so we don't provide the indoor navigation side of things. 00:12:11.000 --> 00:12:13.000 That's what you guys are excellent at and you do 00:12:12.880 --> 00:12:14.240 Yeah, you do a great job at it. 00:12:14.399 --> 00:12:17.120 What we tend to do is more retail analytics. 00:12:17.279 --> 00:12:26.560 So looking at customer foot traffic, customer shopping patterns, how frequently they're coming to the stores, what times of day are busy, what times of day are slow. 00:12:26.380 --> 00:12:35.820 So those types of analytics that are very useful for the manager of the store or the store owners that really want to keep track of how their stores are doing as far as customer visitations. 00:12:36.220 --> 00:12:36.779 Which I think is 00:12:39.560 --> 00:12:47.400 And so for the shopping malls, there's a lot of changes 00:12:47.740 --> 00:12:54.780 That happen month to month or even sometimes week to week with new stores opening, new stores closing, or old stores closing as it were. 00:12:55.020 --> 00:12:57.180 How do you update 00:12:57.240 --> 00:12:58.520 the indoor maps. 00:12:58.680 --> 00:13:01.640 How does that work within the mapped in platform? 00:13:01.960 --> 00:13:02.360 Absolutely. 00:13:02.440 --> 00:13:03.240 It's a great question. 00:13:03.480 --> 00:13:10.600 So mapped in and our claim to fame, our secret sauce is our map editor. 00:13:11.660 --> 00:13:16.699 I will be the first to say like anyone can create a beautiful picturesque map. 00:13:16.940 --> 00:13:17.740 And that's great. 00:13:17.819 --> 00:13:19.420 I can perfectly intro you to 00:13:19.640 --> 00:13:21.000 individuals that can do that. 00:13:21.160 --> 00:13:24.760 The issue with that model is the maintenance. 00:13:24.840 --> 00:13:29.880 The moment something changes from that map that you just created and probably spent a lot of money on. 00:13:30.040 --> 00:13:31.240 It's null and void. 00:13:31.320 --> 00:13:32.040 It is not accurate. 00:13:32.120 --> 00:13:36.360 So you have to go through that exact same process, spend all that money to go ahead and do that. 00:13:36.839 --> 00:13:38.920 Mapped-in strategy and 00:13:39.540 --> 00:13:50.980 Secret sauce has been investing in a map editing tool that is easy to use, has different syncs and automation to make the maintenance piece so easy that 00:13:51.520 --> 00:13:52.800 anyone can do it. 00:13:52.960 --> 00:14:06.000 And more specifically, it will go ahead and distribute out to all the different places that the map for a user, for a shopper, for an attendee using the map can have that updated information. 00:14:05.920 --> 00:14:11.920 So the map editor will have your floor plans digitized. 00:14:12.160 --> 00:14:15.040 In this map editor, you can go ahead and change walls. 00:14:15.199 --> 00:14:16.160 You can go ahead and 00:14:16.540 --> 00:14:24.540 add pop-up shops, takeout tree, like whatever it might be that you're looking to change very easily, day-to-day, moments notice. 00:14:24.920 --> 00:14:36.600 Push the save button, push the go live button, within 10 minutes, all of your different wayfinding maps, web, mobile, digital signage, touch signage, will be updated with your accurate information. 00:14:37.260 --> 00:14:39.500 Paired with the location data. 00:14:39.740 --> 00:14:50.060 So like McDonald's, McDonald's opening hours, McDonald's coupons, McDonald's phone number, et cetera, et cetera, all the POI information, point of interest information. 00:14:50.520 --> 00:14:57.720 And all of that information, you can also A maintain and manage in our database as a source of truth. 00:14:57.960 --> 00:15:01.800 Or what I see is the vast majority of our clients already have a database. 00:15:01.900 --> 00:15:06.140 Whether it's malls leasing database, whether it's stadiums like session database. 00:15:06.380 --> 00:15:09.420 Uh they all have these types of databases. 00:15:09.440 --> 00:15:12.400 We can pull that information through a data sync. 00:15:12.560 --> 00:15:14.640 So it's every 24 hours, 2 a. 00:15:14.720 --> 00:15:14.800 m. 00:15:14.960 --> 00:15:20.080 local time usually is like when it's pulled, it will automatically update based on your source of truth. 00:15:20.840 --> 00:15:24.120 And then you can go ahead and use our tools to add Santa Claus. 00:15:24.280 --> 00:15:28.120 That's always a very relevant example during this time of year. 00:15:28.560 --> 00:15:35.040 You can add Santa during the months of December, take them right out in a mall environment when Santa's all gone. 00:15:35.280 --> 00:15:36.000 Very easily. 00:15:36.240 --> 00:15:37.360 Takes less than a minute. 00:15:38.300 --> 00:15:39.420 And our clients do that. 00:15:39.500 --> 00:15:40.300 I think that's the main thing. 00:15:40.460 --> 00:15:43.660 We provide, because it's so easy, the autonomy for our clients to do it. 00:15:43.740 --> 00:15:47.100 So there's no back and forth, no mistakes, no SLA. 00:15:47.420 --> 00:15:49.660 They can go ahead and do it whenever they want. 00:15:50.279 --> 00:15:50.760 Yeah. 00:15:51.000 --> 00:15:58.920 And I think most importantly for the customer shopper experience, you know, let's say you're walking around the store, you just want to grab a coffee at the Starbucks. 00:15:58.839 --> 00:16:04.519 You look at the map and you go to where it says the store is and there's a different store there. 00:16:04.680 --> 00:16:06.199 Like it's so frustrating. 00:16:08.660 --> 00:16:10.420 shopping experiences that you can have. 00:16:10.500 --> 00:16:10.740 Yep. 00:16:10.899 --> 00:16:12.660 Just wanted my caffeine ticks for you. 00:16:12.899 --> 00:16:13.139 Yep. 00:16:13.220 --> 00:16:15.300 Or even a notable like this just happened to me. 00:16:15.380 --> 00:16:16.579 Like I was traveling on an airport. 00:16:16.660 --> 00:16:17.699 I had a 20-minute layover. 00:16:17.779 --> 00:16:19.459 I was like, I'm craving Chick-fil-A. 00:16:19.660 --> 00:16:21.900 It was a 10 minute walk, so I was like, cool. 00:16:22.060 --> 00:16:26.620 I am I will make it to here, order the food, eat it on the way back and catch my flight. 00:16:26.860 --> 00:16:27.900 And it wasn't there. 00:16:28.060 --> 00:16:31.900 And oh boy, howdy was I, because now it's like, okay, I've got 10 minutes to 00:16:32.120 --> 00:16:43.640 figure out and haul or and run back to my gate and eat and that creates like the accuracy is the key point because me as a user I was frustrated I there's a distrust 00:16:43.720 --> 00:16:45.000 I my money was ready. 00:16:45.160 --> 00:16:46.920 Like I was ready to purchase something. 00:16:47.000 --> 00:16:48.120 I ended up not eating. 00:16:48.200 --> 00:16:53.560 So that airport, that store, whatever it might be, they lost out on that price. 00:16:53.640 --> 00:16:53.800 Yeah. 00:16:54.440 --> 00:16:55.320 No question. 00:16:56.140 --> 00:16:57.260 Yeah, exactly. 00:16:57.500 --> 00:17:03.420 That's why it's very important to have that flexibility and the option to update. 00:17:03.500 --> 00:17:09.420 And as you mentioned, for your platform, the stores themselves or the store managers, they can go in themselves, right? 00:17:09.500 --> 00:17:10.300 And just make 00:17:10.360 --> 00:17:16.679 changes as a new store is let's say closing or changing position or new store opening, whatever the case is. 00:17:16.919 --> 00:17:17.240 Yep. 00:17:17.559 --> 00:17:21.880 Mall managers, the property owners, the state, the football 00:17:22.040 --> 00:17:29.880 Teams that whoever as an owner of said property is handling that information, usually they're the best to know it anyway. 00:17:30.040 --> 00:17:33.080 So they should be the ones with the key to the castle. 00:17:33.840 --> 00:17:47.440 And as we're kind of covering the updatedness, the freshness of the of the store data, how does the mapped in platform, without getting too technical, handle like validation, like checking that? 00:17:47.640 --> 00:17:52.920 the stores are not maybe overlaid on top of each other accidentally or or something like that. 00:17:53.480 --> 00:17:56.520 What kind of processes do you have in place that handles 00:17:57.019 --> 00:18:00.460 correcting or preventing errors in the the mapping data. 00:18:00.779 --> 00:18:01.019 Yep. 00:18:01.179 --> 00:18:06.620 So we have a lot of technical things on our back end that I won't get too deep into, just know it's there. 00:18:07.160 --> 00:18:15.560 I would say for the initial implementation, we have a very rigorous QC or quality control process to ensure that the data we are receiving 00:18:15.919 --> 00:18:18.240 looks identical to a copy and paste. 00:18:18.400 --> 00:18:26.960 There's way more to it, but conceptually we are taking their floor plans, whether they be CAD files, PDFs, SVG, drawings on napkins. 00:18:27.039 --> 00:18:30.320 Please don't give us drawings on napkins, but you know, whatever. 00:18:30.760 --> 00:18:38.440 Taking that information, we do a whole lot more, but we copy and paste it in our map editor tool. 00:18:38.519 --> 00:18:41.639 So you have that digital asset within 100% 00:18:42.040 --> 00:18:46.920 And then the validation from there is the client maintaining that 100%. 00:18:47.000 --> 00:18:51.080 So thinking about it is we take their floor plans from zero to 100%. 00:18:51.560 --> 00:18:52.600 And from there, 00:18:53.220 --> 00:18:58.420 We're able to provide the keys to the castle where the client can then maintain that 100%. 00:18:58.820 --> 00:19:02.980 And often a lot of it is automated because we're pulling information from them. 00:19:03.340 --> 00:19:11.100 And their source of truth, usually they have their own checks and balances in place to ensure that what we're pulling is clean. 00:19:12.140 --> 00:19:23.980 Usually property owners will delegate the structural maintenance to the managers of said property or individuals at said property, because they're going to be the ones that know what's going on. 00:19:24.120 --> 00:19:26.120 Is this pop-up store actually here? 00:19:26.280 --> 00:19:26.760 Yes or no? 00:19:26.920 --> 00:19:28.680 HQ may or may not know this. 00:19:28.920 --> 00:19:34.680 Person at the mall knows exactly, or the mall, airport, stadium, whatever it might be, knows exactly where it is. 00:19:35.880 --> 00:19:46.840 Yeah, so your system handles and can keep the store locations up to date and there is technical validation as well. 00:19:47.740 --> 00:19:50.780 QA or QC process that absolutely. 00:19:51.420 --> 00:19:52.140 Very cool. 00:19:52.380 --> 00:19:52.780 Yeah. 00:19:53.020 --> 00:19:57.740 And our view on it is our product is white labeled. 00:19:57.440 --> 00:20:07.120 But our view on it is we want to produce the best looking on brand possible example of mapped in towards our client. 00:20:07.540 --> 00:20:12.100 Because while we're like white labeled, we're proud of our name and we're proud of what we're producing. 00:20:12.340 --> 00:20:17.060 But more specifically, it's our clients and their brand. 00:20:17.880 --> 00:20:21.240 that has their name on the line, so to speak, with this information. 00:20:21.400 --> 00:20:24.440 So we want it to be 100% and it will be 100%. 00:20:25.980 --> 00:20:26.300 Right. 00:20:26.540 --> 00:20:35.820 It's not going to be you as the mapping technology provider that gets blamed for the shopper that's walking around the mall and the store is not at the right place. 00:20:37.180 --> 00:20:37.900 Exactly. 00:20:38.620 --> 00:20:39.260 Exactly. 00:20:39.580 --> 00:20:40.220 Makes sense. 00:20:40.460 --> 00:20:48.460 And so as you've been working in the location mapping kind of software industry for a number of years now. 00:20:48.560 --> 00:20:53.040 Uh what kind of changes or trends are you seeing in the industry? 00:20:53.360 --> 00:20:54.880 You can share some insights. 00:20:55.200 --> 00:20:56.960 Oh, that's such a good question. 00:20:57.040 --> 00:21:02.320 There's so much and I've seen so man like so many things over the past 10 years. 00:21:02.480 --> 00:21:07.840 And what's interesting about like the past history and trends is they build on top of each other. 00:21:08.000 --> 00:21:11.200 And what I mean by that is 10 years ago everything was web. 00:21:11.620 --> 00:21:17.940 had to have a web map, had to everyone was using like a web-based digital map, which is great. 00:21:18.260 --> 00:21:19.620 It didn't go extinct. 00:21:19.700 --> 00:21:20.820 They built on top of it. 00:21:20.900 --> 00:21:24.740 So now it's like this de facto you need a web map. 00:21:25.320 --> 00:21:27.320 Because it's expected by consumers. 00:21:27.560 --> 00:21:31.640 And then next up, there was a mobile application paired with digital signage. 00:21:31.800 --> 00:21:33.000 Same thing, brand new. 00:21:33.080 --> 00:21:33.640 Do we do it? 00:21:33.720 --> 00:21:34.680 Do we not do it? 00:21:34.860 --> 00:21:37.659 And it began trending to where people needed it. 00:21:37.820 --> 00:21:44.380 And now those three, web, mobile, and digital signage, are a de facto expectation of the consumer. 00:21:45.240 --> 00:21:58.600 What I'm seeing currently right now, and it varies, but the expectation of consumers is having all of these sources and being able to 00:21:59.540 --> 00:22:04.900 Pull up information at a moment's notice, knowing it's accurate. 00:22:04.980 --> 00:22:10.020 And I think the chat GPTs, the AI model, like the all that kind of stuff, is 00:22:10.980 --> 00:22:17.860 Training consumers to have this opinion that I can find information anywhere and it's going to be accurate, which they should. 00:22:18.500 --> 00:22:21.620 And being able to have all these different 00:22:22.640 --> 00:22:31.280 sources to obtain this information in a map format that's visually appealing, visually contextual, is going to be 00:22:32.960 --> 00:22:36.240 What the consumers expect, but more specifically what they want. 00:22:36.320 --> 00:22:38.320 So property owners need to get on board. 00:22:38.560 --> 00:22:44.320 But more specifically, within this trend, having more information associated to each store. 00:22:44.919 --> 00:22:50.200 Five years ago it was like description, hours of operation, phone number. 00:22:50.840 --> 00:22:51.880 That's about it. 00:22:52.360 --> 00:22:59.400 Now, and we help with this, it's deep linking to the menu to show the menu within each individual store. 00:22:59.460 --> 00:23:08.180 But maybe if it's a store of different coupon codes or loyalty programs, loyalty programs is really, really big right now in the indoor mapping industry that I'm seeing. 00:23:08.340 --> 00:23:12.900 And this is all just probably on the tenant side that I'm seeing that's trending, knowing that 00:23:13.440 --> 00:23:18.960 You know, COVID happened, brick and mortar, had its thought to be a downfall. 00:23:19.039 --> 00:23:20.000 It's it's back. 00:23:20.080 --> 00:23:21.919 It is alive, I'll tell you that much. 00:23:23.100 --> 00:23:32.940 And with that on the tenant side, that's what I'm seeing is like they the consumer is in charge now. 00:23:33.780 --> 00:23:47.620 The old models that the landlords were using to get people in are no longer working because the consumer is expecting experiences, they're expecting information at a moment's notice, they're expecting 00:23:47.820 --> 00:23:54.060 uh digital technology to solve for all this and just have a more luxury look and feel. 00:23:54.380 --> 00:23:58.540 On the mapping side of things, the trends and changes. 00:23:58.740 --> 00:24:00.100 Is AI shocking? 00:24:00.180 --> 00:24:01.460 Everyone sees it in the news. 00:24:01.540 --> 00:24:07.060 It it every company's trying to do it, whether it's smoke and mirrors or the real thing. 00:24:07.220 --> 00:24:12.900 I would say how Mappedin has been going forth with this is we're ahead of the curve. 00:24:12.919 --> 00:24:16.440 We've been developing an AI mapping tool. 00:24:16.520 --> 00:24:17.400 It's out in public. 00:24:17.720 --> 00:24:23.720 You can go ahead and go to our website and check it out to where you can plug in a floor plan, PDF, CAD. 00:24:24.580 --> 00:24:29.940 SVG, PNG, whatever floor plan you have, you can have you can do your apartment right now. 00:24:30.900 --> 00:24:32.179 Plug that in. 00:24:32.980 --> 00:24:38.500 You can still manually create it, create the walls, create everything, or manual's boring. 00:24:38.580 --> 00:24:44.980 You can push the AI button and it will automatically convert your map to where that you can then have a digital map. 00:24:45.320 --> 00:24:47.640 using AI as the creation point. 00:24:49.800 --> 00:24:54.440 Yeah, I was on a call with your CEO the other day and I think he demoed that. 00:24:54.600 --> 00:24:56.840 It's very impressive demo there. 00:24:56.920 --> 00:24:58.360 You could you can do that in 00:24:58.640 --> 00:25:02.560 It even works with just a high-end iPhone or iPad, right? 00:25:03.040 --> 00:25:03.440 It does. 00:25:03.600 --> 00:25:04.000 It does. 00:25:04.160 --> 00:25:08.560 I would even say like the the conversations for me are wickedly fun. 00:25:09.019 --> 00:25:17.019 Because I can go ahead and yes, show the tool with my map and push the AI button, but the power here is 00:25:18.080 --> 00:25:21.440 I can say, don't believe me, do it yourself. 00:25:21.679 --> 00:25:22.240 Sign up. 00:25:22.400 --> 00:25:26.720 Try it for try it whatever floor plan put us to the test. 00:25:27.040 --> 00:25:30.800 And they always come back very impressed because it's not smoke and mirrors. 00:25:31.040 --> 00:25:33.280 It has been years in development. 00:25:33.760 --> 00:25:36.320 It's been two or three years on the market. 00:25:36.640 --> 00:25:38.960 And it's real and it's good. 00:25:40.400 --> 00:25:41.520 Awesome. 00:25:42.080 --> 00:25:45.840 So where can listeners find out more about MappedIn? 00:25:46.000 --> 00:25:46.960 What's the best place? 00:25:47.280 --> 00:25:48.240 Yeah, of course. 00:25:48.559 --> 00:25:52.640 You can go ahead and head over to our website, map mappedin.com 00:25:53.919 --> 00:25:58.960 You can go ahead and find anything that we do, find all of our case studies, dev portal. 00:25:59.120 --> 00:26:03.520 As always, my LinkedIn, Michael Pasket, you can go ahead and add me. 00:26:03.860 --> 00:26:06.260 Throw me a chat, I respond to everything. 00:26:06.419 --> 00:26:15.620 I'm more than happy and call me a mapping nerd to really dive into things, even if it's just knowledge base, even if it's just expanding network to help to solve problems. 00:26:15.740 --> 00:26:22.380 Give feedback, give my best practices that I've seen throughout the years, those would probably be the two best. 00:26:22.540 --> 00:26:23.740 Our website, mappedin.com 00:26:24.060 --> 00:26:27.100 or myself, Michael Pasket on LinkedIn. 00:26:27.980 --> 00:26:30.700 All right, and I've been your host, Kevin. 00:26:30.780 --> 00:26:33.340 I'm the global marketing manager at unerry Inc. 00:26:33.820 --> 00:26:41.660 You can subscribe to the Location Insights podcast in whatever podcast app you're listening right now so you get episodes automatically. 00:26:41.640 --> 00:26:43.720 And thanks for listening, everyone