SAN FRANCISCO, CA -- (MARKET WIRE) -- Feb 02, 2009 -- Urban Mapping, Inc (UMI) the leading provider of location-rich content for interactive applications, today announced the availability of a Free Mass Transit Proximity API that permits access to the company's comprehensive database of mass transit systems. The free version offers API access for developers to build location-based applications that can leverage Urban Mapping's URBANWARE™ Mass Transit database. With the API, developers and publishers can enhance the value of local content by associating information about nearby transit stops and routes or lines serving those stops. Today's announcement follows on the heels of UMI's release last week of enhancements to the Graphserver open-source transportation routing engine (view press release here -- http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Urban-Mapping-941388.html).

"Public transportation plays a significant role in the lives of people living in urban areas," commented Ian White, CEO of Urban Mapping. "With the free API any piece of local content can be transit-enhanced. This can positively impact local search opportunities for businesses near station stops and improve the overall quality of life for those that rely on mass transit on a near daily basis."

The Mass Transit Proximity API enables interactive local search, mobile search, social networking, real estate, yellow pages and other location-based applications to provide end users with localized transit information for subway, commuter rail or bus stations. Other potential uses include data mining, economic development and direct marketing.

Urban Mapping currently provides public transit trip planning for over 65 systems in the United States, Canada and select European cities. Urban Mapping uses a variety of research techniques to aggregate a broad collection of over 100 attributes, including: egress points, station accessibility, amenities, staffed hours, exit type, sleeper cars, parking facilities and station/line transfers. Normalized schedules are available in both headway and tabular formats. Developers may register for the Free Mass Transit Proximity API by following the instructions at http://developer.urbanmapping.com. The company also offers a free API for its URBANWARE Neighborhoods database, which can also be found on the company's Web site.

About Urban Mapping, Inc.

Urban Mapping's location-rich URBANWARE products enhance the value of local content for interactive applications. The company's flagship product, URBANWARE Neighborhoods, is a database of informal space and is used by all major portals, map platforms and Internet yellow page publishers, including Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft's Virtual Earth, Idearc's SuperPages.com, MapQuest and AT&T's YellowPages.com. Urban Mapping also offers databases of mass transit systems and off-street parking lots, as well as a novel geotargeting solution focused on the needs of local search. For more information about Urban Mapping, visit http://www.urbanmapping.com or call 415.946.8170.

Urban Mapping and URBANWARE are trademarks of Urban Mapping, Inc.

Add to Digg Bookmark with del.icio.us Add to Newsvine

Company contact:
Lindsay Hong

Email Contact
415-946-8170 x812

PR contact:
Dean Fisk

Email Contact
707-837-1745

---