We all have busy days, but courier drivers would have to be among the most stressed out people around.
A major time-waster in logistics is the problem of ‘dead-deliveries’ – when the recipient is not at their listed address, and the package cannot be delivered.
In a classic example of identifying and acting upon a gap in the market, serial entrepreneur David Whitfield won the backing of Internode founder Simon Hackett and incubator firm Bluechilli, and Geepers was born.
Launched in Sydney last night, Geepers is a web-based application using a unique system to label and locate people, places and things with laser like precision.
The app allows users to quickly update their address, making the lives of courier drivers that much easier.
By taking the traditional rules of longitude and latitude with the speed and reach of the Internet, Geepers works on the notion that every person and every thing on earth has a global name address that can be mapped to within centimetres.
Whitfield told Dynamic Business that locally, the app has attracted the attention of the biggest names in logistics. Yet the real excitement lies in its potential usefulness in Asia, where many streets are not labeled, and local knowledge is required for navigation and deliveries.
How it works:
As the world gets more populated, traditional forms of labeling such as street addresses are becoming increasingly confusing. Geepers aims to solve this by enabling Geepers’ users to create a unique digital alpha-numeric user profile (user-name) and then adding multiple locations using latitude and longitude co-ordinates where they wish to be found such as home, work, or current on the move locations (with their smartphone or Internet enabled device is the ‘destination’).
Geepers addresses are prefixed by the ‘!’ symbol. A search of !David_White will show all of David White’s addresses while !David_White.home will show David’s home location and !David_White.now will show David’s precise mobile location – if he has selected you as a friend. Clicking on a desired location will then accurately navigate the searcher to that location.
For businesses, Geepers can be used to store location information for a range of applications including:
- A permanent digital address for any business which can be automatically transferred with business relocation;
- Outlet search based on proximity for businesses with multiple locations;
- ATM locations for financial institutions;
- Local attraction listings for tourism bodies;
- Bars and restaurants finder based on proximity;
- Petrol station locations;.
- Building location for public sector agencies.
- Electrical distribution infrastructure for utility companies;
- House locator for real estate companies; and,
- Brand loyalty programs, for example local restaurants which serve particular wines.
National courier company Fastway Couriers will shortly become the first Australian company to run a pilot trial of Geepers in the Sydney metro area.
