Internet firm set to deliver high-tech software.

• Author: Ross, Ian
• Position: InternetMedia - Brief Article

Entrepreneur markets interactive mapping software abroad

Les Lemay knows there,s a pot of gold waiting for his company's cutting-edge mapping software. He just didn't realize he needed to travel all the way to Ireland to collect it.

The 35-year-old president of InternetMedia.ca believes his business is on the verge of great things. Since he returned from a trade mission in Emerald Isle last fall, the 10-employee Internet start-up firm is poised to deliver their interactive mapping software to an eager and receptive European audience.

In describing his company's Display Map as "groundbreaking technology", Lemay is preparing to sign a letter of interest to partner with an Irish technology service provider, Wren Innovations, in developing an interactive map for the County Louth region of Ireland. The tourist-oriented map will display locations of businesses allowing vacationers to plug into the Internet to find the best places to stay.

Unlike other current Internet technology where the screen goes blank and as one maps and zooms; the Display Map does not need to refresh itself in downloading a new view as one navigates. In a map of a downtown area, users can click on dots representing hotels, restaurants, bars and points of interest for more information with a link directly to that business' Web site.

For a company ready to take on the world, their quarters on Queen Street are decidedly Spartan, he adds.

But if everything falls right in the next year, he and creative partner Ron Lusterio plan to triple the size of their staff and possibly have more than 100 on the payroll in two years.

InternetMedia is submitting a joint application with Wren Innovations for a $400,000 grant from RADIANE, an Irish development program that supports joint-venture opportunities. The money would go towards developing a second- generation Display Map with the plan being to eventually map out every county in Ireland as a virtual tour, he explains.

They're also working on developing some personal. access device mapping software which the Ontario Provincial Police has shown an interest in, by creating a wireless version of a police officer's black book that connects to their case-management software.

But what remains somewhat...