Loveland, Colorado, 20 July 2006 – LandNet Corp. has been issued a patent from the U.S. Patent Office for a suite of highly differentiated online mapping functions. The patent titled “Land Software Tool” includes several functions that provide the online map drawing and measuring capabilities available on the LandVoyage mapping website.
Developed in 2000, LandVoyage (www.landvoyage.com) is a turnkey online mapping business that competes in many of the same markets as Google Maps, Microsoft Virtual Earth, and GlobeXplorer, which is owned by Stewart Title. The LandVoyage patent number 7,054,741 was issued on May 30, 2006 and relates back to the date of the original provisional patent application which was filed on February 11, 2002.
“From Google and Microsoft to Yahoo and Amazon, more and more companies are getting into online mapping,” said Craig Harrison, President and Founder of LandVoyage. “With the rapid evolution and intense competition now dominating the Internet mapping business, this patent will protect these unique mapping and real estate tools.”
With the patent recently awarded, LandNet Corp. is currently exploring opportunities to sell the LandVoyage Internet mapping business along with all existing and future patents. The company is also interested in other joint venture opportunities, such as a strategic merger or technology/patent licensing. Sarowdin Partners, a nationally focused investment banking firm, is managing the sale process. Interested parties should contact Chris Barnes, Managing Director, at 303-399-1307 or csb@sarowdinpartners.com.
The Land Software Tool
The Land Software Tool offers a unique suite of practical online map drawing, searching, and measuring functions. The tools, which can all be used with GPS technology, allow users to draw boundaries onscreen over maps, aerial photos, and satellite images, for example, and to change those underlying images, as desired, without having to redraw anything. The tools also allow users to delineate and measure land parcels using a variety of reference points, such as latitude/longitude coordinates or information from the Public Land Survey System (PLSS). Here is an overview of the primary Land Software Tool functions:
• The Metes and Bounds Tool is used to draw a property’s boundary from its legal description or, in reverse, to create a legal description of property whose boundaries are drawn on a computer screen.
• The Latitude/Longitude Tool allows users to draw boundaries using a list of latitude/longitude coordinates or, in reverse, to identify the coordinates of boundaries drawn on a map onscreen.
• The Township/Range/Section Search function enables users to find maps with information from the PLSS. The user enters a township, range, and section number online and the tool automatically finds the geographic location and takes the user to that location on an onscreen map.
• The Map Information Tool allows users to retrieve a variety of information about a map or location by simply moving the mouse. As the cursor moves over the screen, the user receives a streaming update of information about the map and locations on it.
LandNet filed a separate application on January 24, 2006, for a continuation seeking patent protection on an additional 73 claims relating to the Land Software Tool. These patent pending claims represent both an expansion of current functions and new tools which were described in the issued patent but not claimed. An additional continuation-in-part patent application with 164 new claims was filed on May 16, 2006 and is currently pending.