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Sweepstakes provides a chance to win thousands of dollars of prizes by exploring the Web in 2D and 3D
Vancouver, BC - December 19, 2000 -- Antarctica Systems Inc., a pioneer developer of visual network maps, today announced "The Great Map.net Treasure Hunt," a contest to search for treasure within a 2D and 3D representation of the World Wide Web.
This contest follows on the heels of the launch of Antarctica's public website, www.map.net, an integrated continent-sized map of the Internet. This site, a showcase for Antarctica's Visual Net product, enables users to explore the Web in 2D and 3D, representing sites and subject categories visually. This large-scale online contest targets existing and potential visitors. Players can register for "The Great Map.net Treasure Hunt" at map.net starting today, December 19, 2000; the contest will run for a 6-week period ending January 31, 2001.
Contestants explore the www.Map.net site to find 16 pieces of treasure, one for each main category territory of the map. A clue will be provided to help participants find the first treasure, whereupon they will receive the next trivia clue. This contest offers prizes for all levels of completion and contestants can earn extra entries for recruiting others to play the game. Map.net will be awarding over 500 prizes, including a digital camera, a sports watch, gift certificates, shirts and software, and a grand prize of an ergonomic office chair valued at over $1000US. Contest information and rules can be found on the Map.net Web site; no purchase is necessary to play.
"We've worked hard to make Map.net a fun place to find and share information. We want visitors to use this opportunity to explore our site, and see how easy it is to use," said Antarctica CEO Tim Bray. "We think this Treasure Hunt is a great way to introduce new visitors to our site, and reward our repeat visitors. And in the process they will explore all the regions of the Web and find some new favorite sites."
The Antarctica showcase at www.map.net maps the category structure of the entire Web onto one screen. The basic data is sourced from Netscape/AOL's Open Directory Project (www.dmoz.org) and enhanced by Antarctica's proprietary technology. At the heart of the technology is Antarctica's Visual Net product, which plots and diagrams hundreds of thousands of subject categories and millions of Web sites on 2D and 3D maps that communicate not only the categories but also the sizes of the sites, their popularity and their quality of service. The 3D experience immerses users in a videogame-like environment, allowing them to 'walk around' the Web and look at sites in great detail without having to actually visit them, resulting in more efficient navigation. In addition, each of the 300,000 categories includes chat capability, enabling users to connect with dynamic communities of shared interests. Antarctica is fully internationalized, containing thousands of categories and hundreds of thousands of sites in languages ranging from Afrikaans and Arabic to Thai and Ukrainian.
About Antarctica
With offices in Vancouver, British Columbia and Seattle, Washington, Antarctica Systems Inc. is a pioneer developer of visual network maps. Antarctica delivers its services to individuals and organizations through its public web site, at www.map.net, and through Visual Net, server-side software that can easily be customized and adapted to new application areas. Antarctica Systems Inc. was founded in 1999 by XML co-creator Tim Bray. Privately held, Antarctica's funding partners include Royal Bank Ventures Inc., the Working Opportunity Fund, itemus inc., and Primaxis Technology Ventures Inc. For additional information, please visit www.antarctica.net or call 866-net-maps.
Antarctica, Map.net and Visual Net are trademarks or registered trademarks of Antarctica Systems Inc. in Canada and foreign countries. All other referenced trademarks belong to their respective owners.
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