EveryScape to launch enhanced map service

A Waltham company said today it is seeking to create a virtual Internet experience of the entire world, starting with several US cities including Boston, at a website where users can contribute to the site's content.

The company is called EveryScape Inc. and over the next few months, it plans to bridge the "gap between the physical world and the virtual one by allowing people to search, find, and experience every aspect of a city or town," the company said.

Until today, the company was known as Mok3 Inc., and since 2002, it has been selling technology and services to resort hotels so they can create virtual online experiences for potential customers who want to get a sense of what a stay at the hotel might be like.

Under its new name of EveryScape, the company wants to extend this approach to public spaces as well.

Visitors to the site "not only tour cities and towns, but also interact, collaborate, and share in the creation of EveryScape.com," the company said. "For example, while 'walking' through Union Square in San Francisco via EveryScape.com, users can window-shop storefronts as well as tour the inside of those stores, see their offerings, and access published reviews and other information. As users tour an area, they can add their own content, including relevant links, personal reviews, rankings and so on."

The company plans to launch its product for 10 major metropolitan areas by the end of the year, with San Francisco and Boston at the top of the list. EveryScape will be introducing its platform into a dynamic, and competitive, technology development environment. Google is actively enhancing its Google Earth product, and Microsoft is pushing its entry into mapping, Virtual Earth.

Today, at a conference in San Jose, Where 2.0, Google further upped the ante by introducing "Street View", which offers 360 degree street-level views of five U.S. cities, with more promised to come.

EveryScape said it hopes to make money on its EveryScape.com website by selling advertising and sponsored links.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)