MetaCarta

MetaCarta was founded in 1999 by John R. Frank while he was working on his Ph.D. in physics as a Hertz Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.{{cite web | url=http://conferences.oreillynet.com/cs/where2006/view/e_spkr/2208 | title=Where 2.0 Conference Speaker – John R. Frank | publisher=O'Reilly | access-date=2008-05-16}} By early 2001, John and Erik Rauch had developed a prototype of the Geographic Text Search product and incorporated the company together with Doug Brenhouse.{{cite web|url=https://icis.corp.delaware.gov/eCorp/EntitySearch/NameSearch.aspx|title=Entity Details - File Number: 3340933 - Incorporation Date / Formation Date: 1/5/2001 - Entity Name: Metacarta, Incorporated|access-date=2020-12-30}}{{cite web|url=https://www.thecasecentre.org/students/products/view?id=112287|title=MetaCarta: Growing a Company, Do We Take the VC Money? - CASE-Reference no. BAB695C|first1=Andrew|last1=Zacharakis|first2=Brian|last2=Zinn|publisher=Babson College|date=November 2012}} In July 2001, they received $500,000 from DARPA’s Next Generation Internet Program.{{cite report|url=https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a412875.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201229115418/https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a412875.pdf|url-status=live|archive-date=December 29, 2020|title=A Nationwide Experimental Multigigabit Network - AFRL-IF-RS-TR-2003-55 - Final Technical Report|date=March 2003|author=High Speed Connectivity Consortium|publisher=Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency|docket=DARPA Order No. G147, J164}}{{cite report|title=Research Networks and Technology Migration (RESNETSII) - AFRL-IF-RS-TR-2004-224 - Final Technical Report|date=July 2004|author=USC Information Sciences Institute|publisher=Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency|citeseerx=10.1.1.1025.9829|docket=DARPA Order No. J178, J804, J957}}{{cite news|url=https://www.institutionalinvestor.com/article/b15136rsstvcs5/data-mining-darpa-bets|title=Data mining: Darpa bets|date=2004-10-13|publisher=Institutional Investor}} In 2001 and 2002, angel investors, including Esther Dyson, Bob Frankston, David P. Reed and Pattie Maes invested.{{cite web|url=http://www.edventure.com/board-seats-investments.html|title=EDVenture - Ester Dyson's Board Seats & Investments|access-date=2020-12-31}}{{cite web|url=https://www.satn.org/archive/2002_01_13_archive.html#8685425#8685425|title=Names and Places|date=2002-01-13|author=David P. Reed}}{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030813004758/http://danbricklin.com/log/2003_03_03.htm#mos|archive-date=2003-08-13|url=http://danbricklin.com/log/2003_03_03.htm#mos|title=Boston Museum of Science Computing Revolutionaries event|author=Dan Bricklin}}{{cite web|url=http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,971039,00.asp|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031204112918/http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,971039,00.asp|archive-date=2003-12-04|title=Interview: Esther Dyson—Industry Visionary|first=Craig|last=Newell|date=2003-03-23|work=PC Magazine}}

In October 2002, CIA’s venture capital arm In-Q-Tel invested and Gilman Louie, CEO of In-Q-Tel, said "there is tremendous interest and value in this type of geospatial information service and MetaCarta is the first company in this space in which we have invested."{{cite magazine|magazine=Wired|url=https://www.wired.com/2003/03/whos-watching-the-watch-lists/|first=Joanna|last=Glasner|date=2003-03-25|title=Who's Watching the Watch Lists?}} In-Q-Tel invested a second time in 2004.{{cite news | url=http://www.bizjournals.com/boston/stories/2004/06/28/daily10.html?jst=s_cn_hl | title=MetaCarta lands second funding from CIA | publisher=Boston Business Journal | access-date=2008-05-16 | date=2004-06-29}}

In December 2003, the company raised a $6.5M Series B from a syndicate led by Sevin Rosen.{{cite news|title=MetaCarta maps out path to $6.5M in second round|date=2004-01-05|url=https://www.bizjournals.com/boston/blog/mass-high-tech/2004/01/metacarta-maps-out-path-to-65m-in-second.html|publisher=Boston Business Journal}} Sevin Rosen espoused an investment philosophy of frugality but required a controlling interest,{{cite news |url=https://www.eetimes.com/sevin-rosen-closes-ninth-fund-with-300-million/ |title=Sevin Rosen closes ninth fund with $300 million |first=Peter |last=Clarke |date=2004-07-28 }} and the decision to accept that investment has become the subject of a business school case study. Sevin Rosen’s cofounder Ben Rosen has historical ties to Esther Dyson,{{cite magazine |magazine=Newsweek |url=https://www.newsweek.com/accidental-techie-174212 |title=The Accidental 'Techie' |date=October 13, 1997 |first=Esther |last=Dyson |pages=79–86}} and had invested in Bob Frankston’s company VisiCorp in the late 1970s. The syndicate included the venture capital arm of Chevron Texaco.{{cite news|url=https://www.oilit.com/2journal/4php/4_rebuild_center_frameset.php?item=catch_google_month&year=2004&month=02&artno=4|date=February 2004|publisher=Oil IT|title=Chevron Technology backs MetaCarta - ChevronTexaco's venture capital arm is financing the GIS/text-based search engine}} In 2005, the company raised a Series C of $10 million led by FA Tech.{{cite news|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170711002654/https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB112620523966735498|archive-date=2017-07-11|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB112620523966735498|title=MetaCarta Receives $10 Million|date=2005-09-08}}{{cite news|title=MetaCarta lands $10M in Series C VC|url=http://www.bizjournals.com/boston/stories/2005/09/05/daily30.html?jst=b_ln_hl |access-date=29 August 2013 |newspaper=Boston Business Journal |date=8 September 2005}}{{cite web|url=https://www10.giscafe.com/nbc/articles/view_article.php?section=CorpNews&articleid=204520|title=MetaCarta Names George McNamee and Don Zereski to Board of Directors; Secures $10 Million in Series C Financing|date=2005-09-08}} Between 2006 and 2009, one member of the Series B syndicate went into receivership{{cite court |litigants=United States of America v. Chisholm SBIC, LP |court=US District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma |date=2009-06-02 |access-date=2021-01-01 |url=https://www.docketbird.com/court-documents/United-States-of-America-v-Chisholm-Sbic-L-P/CONSENT-ORDER-re-receivership/wiwd-3:2009-mc-00015-00002 }} and the syndicate’s lead investor Sevin Rosen had an internal schism that eventually led it to split up.{{cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/businesspro-sevinrosen-split-dc/sevin-rosen-venture-capital-partners-splitting-up-idUSN0433919420080105|publisher=Reuters|title=Sevin Rosen venture capital partners splitting up|first=Anupreeta|last=Das|date=2008-01-08}} This forced the Sevin Rosen leader for the MetaCarta deal to depart.{{cite news |title=Kevin Jacques, Partner, Palomar Ventures (2006) |url=http://www.fundingpost.com/venturefund/venture-fund-profile.asp?fund=619 |access-date=2021-01-01}}{{cite web |url=https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1139862/000113986209000004/xslFormDX01/primary_doc.xml |title=Form D |date=2009-05-11 }}

In 2007, the company launched a product for the energy sector in partnership with IHS,{{cite news|url=https://www.offshore-mag.com/business-briefs/company-news/article/16797892/metacarta-ihs-sign-data-agreement|work=Offshore Magazine|title=MetaCarta, IHS sign data agreement|date=2007-06-11}}{{cite news|title=MetaCarta collaborates with IHS to enhance Energy Geographic Data Module|publisher=Geospatial World|date=2007-06-12|url=https://www.geospatialworld.net/news/metacarta-collaborates-with-ihs-to-enhance-energy-geographic-data-module/}} and Schlumberger acquired exclusive distribution rights in the petroleum industry.{{cite web|title=MetaCarta 4.6 Now Available|date=2012-04-20|url=https://www.software.slb.com/software-news/software-top-news/metacarta-4-6|publisher=Schlumberger}} The company partnered with content providers like the Society of Petroleum Engineers to support upstream exploration use cases.{{cite web|url=https://proceedings.esri.com/library/userconf/pug05/docs/pap157.pdf|title=A new approach to Information Discovery|first=Betsy|last=Palkowsky|date=2005-03-07}}{{cite book|chapter=A New Approach to Information Discovery|first1=Betsy|last1=Palkowsky|title=All Days|doi=10.2118/96771-MS|publisher=Society of Petroleum Engineers|year=2005}}

Nokia acquired MetaCarta on April 9, 2010,{{cite web|last=Gonsalves|first=Antone|title=Nokia Acquires MetaCarta|date=10 April 2010 |url=http://www.informationweek.com/mobility/smart-phones/nokia-acquires-metacarta/224202519|publisher=InformationWeek|access-date=29 August 2013}} a few months after the company reported record revenue growth.{{cite press release|url=http://www.prweb.com/releases/2010/02/prweb3549434.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100415193759/http://www.prweb.com/releases/2010/02/prweb3549434.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=April 15, 2010|title=MetaCarta Achieves Record Fourth-Quarter Revenue - Customer Growth Reflects Market Demand for Location Based Information|date=2010-02-02}} Nokia kept MetaCarta's core engineering team to build the search engine behind its HERE.com location search offering, and spun-out the enterprise products division and MetaCarta brand to Qbase Holdings in July, 2010.{{cite news|title=Nokia sells MetaCarta 3 months after acquisition|url=http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9GTLQPO0.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100715061034/http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9GTLQPO0.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 15, 2010|access-date=29 August 2013|newspaper=BusinessWeek|date=12 July 2010}} In 2012, John Frank left the role of Chief Architect for Search at Nokia to found Diffeo.{{cite web|url=https://2017.hltcon.org/speaker/john-frank/|title=Speaker John Frank - From Text to Action with Collaborative Agents - HLTcon 2017|year=2017|publisher=Basis Technology}} Don Zereski, the CEO of MetaCarta at the time of its acquisition by Nokia became VP of Search and Discovery at HERE and led acquisitions of other startups.{{cite news |url=https://www.valuewalk.com/2014/05/nokia-corporation-adr-nok-acquires-desti/ |title=Nokia Corporation Acquires Desti to Boost HERE Maps |date=2014-05-31 }}{{cite news |url=https://techcrunch.com/2014/05/30/nokia-buys-sri-spinout-desti-to-add-ai-to-its-here-mapping-business/ |date=2014-05-30 |title=Nokia Buys Desti To Add AI To HERE Maps, Will Shut App |first=Ingrid |last=Lunden }}{{cite speech |title=Indexing the Real World-HERE, Nokia's Mapping Division, Tech Talk | first=Don | last=Zereski |date=2014-04-15 |location=Massachusetts Institute of Technology}}{{cite news |title=Nokia's Here Buys Medio Systems To Push More Personalised Location Services |date=2014-06-12 |url=https://techcrunch.com/2014/06/12/nokias-here-buys-medio-systems-for-more-personalised-location-services/ |first=Ingrid |last=Lunden }} Qbase re-launched MetaCarta as part of Synthos Technologies, now Finch, naming Erin-Michael Gill, CEO in September 2014.{{Cite web |last=LLC |first=Qbase |title=Qbase Launches Synthos Technologies |url=https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/qbase-launches-synthos-technologies-275252921.html |access-date=2023-10-18 |website=www.prnewswire.com |language=en}}

MetaCarta offers multiple products based on its georeferencing and geoindexing technology, called CartaTrees.{{cite web|url=http://www.metacarta.com/cartatrees.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030402012531/http://www.metacarta.com/cartatrees.html|archive-date=2003-04-02|title=CartaTrees Map Search Text Index}}{{cite conference|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031008205359/http://www.gbcacm.org/website/semInfo.php?id=1066|url=http://www.gbcacm.org/website/semInfo.php?id=1066|archive-date=2003-10-08|title=Geographic Text Search: Accelerating Analysis and Reporting|first=John|last=Frank|location=MIT Artificial Intelligence Playroom|conference=Greater Boston Chapter of the ACM}} Its first product was an enterprise search tool that allowed users to combine keyword and map-based filters to retrieve documents. It was called Geographic Text Search (GTS) and was later renamed to Geographic Search and Referencing Platform (GSRP).{{cite press release|title=MetaCarta Introduces New Geographic Search and Referencing Platform That Geo-Enables Content for Location-Based Applications|date=2008-09-29|url=https://www10.giscafe.com/nbc/articles/view_article.php?articleid=595605}}{{cite web |title=MetaCarta Geographic Text Search (GTS) For Government Applications |url=http://www.metacarta.com/Collateral/Documents/English-US/MetaCarta_GTS_PublicSector.pdf |access-date=9 February 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222001638/http://www.metacarta.com/Collateral/Documents/English-US/MetaCarta_GTS_PublicSector.pdf |archive-date=22 February 2014 }} The GTS was packaged as server appliance and used by enterprise customers that often cannot use cloud services, such as the British Transport Police for the 2012 Olympics.{{cite web|date=2012-10-04|title=London 2012 Olympics: Mapping the Playing Field with Qbase's MetaCarta GSRP|url=https://eijournal.com/resources/geoint/geosearch-and-georeferencing|publisher=Earth Imaging Journal|access-date=2020-12-30}} For oil & gas customers, the GTS was branded as "geOdrive".{{cite conference|url=http://m.digitalenergyjournal.com/ShowNews.aspx?NewsID=2876|title=TOP Stories-Drilling And Production - Chevron Technology Ventures (Dec 05 2006)|first=John|last=Hanten|date=2006-12-05}}

The company also offered Internet-based services built on its technology, including map displays of news stories filtered by location.{{cite news|last=Mills|first=Elinor|title=MetaCarta: Mapping the news|url=http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-9901084-7.html|access-date=29 August 2013|newspaper=CNET|date=24 August 2008}} Microsoft Vine,{{cite web|title=MetaCarta Partners with Microsoft to Provide Local News to Microsoft Vine|url=https://gisuser.com/2009/05/metacarta-partners-with-microsoft-to-provide-local-news-to-microsoft-vine/|date=2009-05-04}} National Geographic,{{cite news|url=http://www.econtentmag.com/Articles/News/News-Item/National-Geographic-and-MetaCarta-Introduce-CartaLens-39987.htm|title=National Geographic and MetaCarta Introduce CartaLens|date=2007-10-26|work=EContent Magazine}}{{cite conference|url=https://proceedings.esri.com/library/userconf/feduc08/papers/560.pdf|title=National Geographic Maps uses Meta Lens to Manage Digital Assets|year=2008|conference=ESRI Federal Users Conference}}{{cite news|url=https://www.geospatialworld.net/news/national-geographic-and-metacarta-introduce-cartalens/|title=National Geographic and MetaCarta introduce CartaLens|publisher=Geospatial World|date=2007-10-23}} and other publishers have used these services.

The company's georeferencing or geoparsing engine includes gazetteer databases of millions of place names{{cite news|url=https://www10.giscafe.com/nbc/articles/view_article.php?section=Magazine&articleid=629476|title=The Space Between Maps, Search and Content|first=Susan|last=Smith}} in special knowledge domains, such as petroleum, and languages, including English, Arabic, and Spanish.{{cite news|url=https://www.bizjournals.com/boston/blog/mass-high-tech/2003/11/ware-withal-mit-rooted-metacarta-stakes.html|title=Ware-Withal: MIT-rooted MetaCarta stakes its claim with automatic geoparsing software|first=Elizabeth|last=Dinan|date=2003-11-10}}{{cite news|url=https://gisuser.com/2007/06/metacarta-unveils-first-geo-referencing-solution-to-support-arabic-and-spanish-languages/|title=MetaCarta Unveils First Geo-referencing Solution to Support Arabic and Spanish Languages|date=2007-06-20}}{{cite web|url=https://cga-download.hmdc.harvard.edu/publish_web/Annual_Spring_Workshops/2008_georef/presentations/MetaCarta_JFrank.pdf|title=Locating All Content|first1=John|last1=Frank|first2=Bob|last2=Warren}} The system uses machine learning to disambiguate the semantics of mentions of places in natural language text.{{cite conference |url=https://www.aclweb.org/anthology/W03-0108.pdf |last1=Rauch |first1=Erik |first2=Michael |last2=Bukatin |first3=Kenneth |last3=Baker |title=A confidence-based framework for disambiguating geographic terms |conference=Proceedings of the HLT-NAACL 2003 workshop on Analysis of geographic references |year=2003 }}

In addition to its commercial products, its lab website labs.metacarta.com launched a number of geoweb, neogeography, and open source software projects that gained notoriety through O'Reilly’s Where 2.0 conferences,{{cite magazine|magazine=Wired|first=Pamela|last=Statz|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201231161520/https://www.wired.com/2006/06/metacarta/|archive-date=2020-12-31|url=https://www.wired.com/2006/06/metacarta/|date=2006-06-14|title=MetaCarta}}{{cite web|url=https://www.edparsons.com/2006/06/where-20-day-2-its-all-about-data/|title=Where 2.0 Day 2 – It's all about data..|first=Ed|last=Parsons|date=2006-06-15}}{{cite speech |last=Frank |first=John |title=Local Search Faces Off - Craig Donato, Perry Evans, John Frank, Jeremy Kreitler, Shailesh Rao|date=2005-06-29|event=Where 2.0|url=http://itc.conversationsnetwork.org/shows/detail801.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130729205947/http://itc.conversationsnetwork.org/shows/detail801.html|archive-date=2013-07-29}}{{cite web|url=https://highearthorbit.com/articles/where20-metacarta|publisher=High Earth Orbit|date=2006-06-13|title=Where2.0 - Metacarta}} including [https://gutenkarte.org Gutenkarte.org],{{cite web|url=http://radar.oreilly.com/2006/06/gutenkarte-geo-annotation-of-g.html|title=Gutenkarte: Geo annotation of Gutenberg texts|first=Tim|last=O'Reilly|date=2006-06-13}} TileCache, FeatureServer, and OpenLayers, now a project in Open Source Geospatial Foundation. MetaCarta Labs also showcased integrations{{cite news|url=https://www.directionsmag.com/article/3217 |title=MetaCarta -- A Big Idea|work=Directions Magazine |date=2005-06-21 |first=Adena |last=Schutzberg}} with Silverlight, SharePoint, Flickr, Firefox, and a map rectifier.{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130517113424/http://labs.metacarta.com/|url=http://labs.metacarta.com/|archive-date=2013-05-17|title=MetaCarta Labs}}{{cite web|url=https://github.com/crschmidt/labs-rectifier|title=Github: Labs Rectifier|first=Chris|last=Schmidt|website=GitHub |date=19 November 2019 |quote=MetaCarta Labs Rectifier - The MetaCarta Labs Rectifier is a Django-based server and OpenLayers-based client which allows you to upload maps, and transform them to match the real world.}}{{cite web|url=https://freegeographytools.com/2008/online-raster-map-georeferencingregistration-with-map-rectifier|title=Online Raster Map Georeferencing/Registration With Map Rectifier|first=Leszek|last=Pawlowicz|publisher=Free Geography Tools}}{{cite web|title=Metacarta Lab's Map Rectifier|date=2006-10-08|url=http://fantom-planet.blogspot.com/2006/10/metacarta-labs-map-rectifier.html}} Shortly before being acquired, MetaCarta granted the source code for its enterprise content crawler to the Apache Foundation to create the [https://manifoldcf.apache.org/en_US/index.html Apache Manifold Connector Framework (ManifoldCF)]{{cite web|quote=The original ManifoldCF code base was granted by MetaCarta, Inc., to the Apache Software Foundation in December 2009. The MetaCarta effort represented more than five years of successful development and testing in multiple, challenging enterprise environments.|url=https://manifoldcf.apache.org/en_US/index.html|title=Apache Manifold Connector Framework (ManifoldCF)}}

• 2006 - KMWorld's List of 100 Companies That Matter in Knowledge Management{{cite web|url=https://gisuser.com/2006/03/metacarta-selected-for-kmworlds-list-of-100-companies-that-matter-in-knowledge-management/|title=MetaCarta Selected for KMWorld's List of 100 Companies That Matter in Knowledge Management|date=2006-03-06}}{{cite web|title=MetaCarta.com: Getotagging News|date=2008-03-24|url=http://tech.ebugg-i.com/2008/03/metacartacom-getotagging-news.html}}
• 2005 - Red Herring Top Innovator{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050507110031/http://www.metacarta.com/press/news/index.html|archive-date=2005-05-07|url=http://www.metacarta.com/press/news/index.html|

title=MetaCarta Press - News|quote= 21 Feb 2005 Red Herring -- The Tyranny of Location - 01 Feb 2005 Press Release: MetaCarta Named a Top 100 Innovator by Red Herring}}

• 2004 - Red Herring Top 100 Private Companies{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040727024227/http://www.redherring.com/eventsRH100.aspx|archive-date=2004-07-27|url=http://www.redherring.com/eventsRH100.aspx|title=Red Herring 100 Winners|year=2004}}{{cite web|url=http://www.metacarta.com/index.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040927051142/http://www.metacarta.com/index.html|archive-date=2004-09-27|title=MetaCarta}}
• IndustryWeek Technologies of the Year
• 2-time KMWorld Trend-Setting Products

• Erik Rauch – company Co-Founder (May 15, 1974 – July 13, 2005)
• Schuyler Erle
• András Kornai – former Chief Scientist
• Hertz Foundation
• OpenLayers

{{clear}}

{{Reflist}}

• [http://www.metacarta.com Company Web Site]
• [https://www.finchcomputing.com Finch Computing]

Category:Companies based in Massachusetts

Category:Technology companies established in 1999

Category:Technology companies of the United States

Category:1999 establishments in Massachusetts