Christopher J Simmons

US Patent:

20130166386, Jun 27, 2013

Filed:

Feb 5, 2013

Appl. No.:

13/759602

Inventors:

Christopher Simmons - Alexandria VA, US

International Classification:

G06Q 30/02
H04W 4/02

US Classification:

705 1458

Abstract:

A community-based marketing and advertising service uses an application (“app”) that is configured to provide location-aware services to promote local businesses and show the character and/or history of the location to customers and visitors who use the app. The app may be implemented on diverse computing platforms as both web- and smartphone-based products having location-awareness capabilities provided, for example, by GPS (Global Positioning System) or mobile phone tracking technologies such as cell tower triangulation. The app is implemented in a manner to readily enable businesses to market and advertise using, for example, social networking constructs such as blogging and tweeting while simultaneously providing users with easy-to-use tools to plan a visit, navigate and receive directions in real time using maps displayed by the app, receive promotional offers such as coupons, and generate feedback for the benefit of other users while at or near a given location in the community.