GeoNext startup showcase finalist, Geepers, recently announced the launch of its .Now application for Android and iOS devices, as well as the appointment of Karen Stocks, managing director of Twitter Australia, and Matt Braid, managing director of Volvo Australia, to the Geepers’ board.
Geepers is an Australian-designed geo-location technology that uses a system to label and accurately locate people, places, and things – much the same way that a URL (web address) locates the server that contains the webpage.
The brainchild of David Whitfield, and backed by private investors including Internode founder Simon Hackett, the Geepers leadership team has focused on growing its presence within commercial organisations that need to dynamically and accurately locate people, places, and things.
“The appointment of two new board members with such strong commercial and social media pedigree will help grow the business into the global phenomenon that Geepers intends to be,” said Jason Allen, Chairman of Geepers. “I welcome both Karen and Matt to the Geepers team.”
In addition to the focus on commercial applications of the service, the new .Now app is targeting individual users. The app makes it possible for Australian parents to keep track of their children in real time, via their iOS or Android devices.
With their child’s agreement, the .Now application can be downloaded onto their mobile device to remotely monitor the child’s current and recent whereabouts via a location ‘vapour trail’ as seen on the parent’s own device or desktop. Robust privacy settings mean that this can only be seen by the parent, or broadened to include select family members or carers who also have a Geepers’ username.
“There are many potential uses for the .Now application, including for grown-ups who want to find fellow .Now users,” said Mr. Whitfield. “However as tablet and smartphone ownership among children continues to grow the .Now application is a modern day solution for the age old problem of keeping an eye on your kids and what they are likely to be doing when they are out of sight.”
To reduce data usage active monitoring can be set to only monitor the time of day when the child is out of adult supervision, for example during after school hours. Actual locations can be updated manually or automatically at pre-determined intervals to give parents further control of how .Now reflects their child’s location.
The .Now application is available for $1.29 both from the Apple App Store and Google Play.
