WHERE, a location-based application that helps consumers to find the people, places, and things around them, is now available to T-Mobile USA customers through T-Mobile’s web2go service. Local content available through WHERE includes weather, news, restaurant reviews, the cheapest gas, movie show times, and the ability to connect with other people on the WHERE Wall.
T-Mobile’s web2go service, which offers you the ability to customize your start page and download ringtones, wallpaper, games, and other stuff, is available on smartphones and feature phones for a $2.99 monthly subscription fee. The WHERE application will initially be available for the T-Mobile G1, BlackBerry Curve 8520, Samsung Memoir and Samsung Behold, with more devices to come in the near future.
WHERE, which is free, aggregates local content from services like Yelp and Eventful, which also have their own iPhone apps. It enables brands and advertisers to reach a local audience. WHERE has achieved widespread distribution through partnerships with leading carriers such as AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile, and handset manufacturers such as Apple, RIM, and Samsung.
The WHERE iPhone application is also featured in the iTunes App Store on the web and mobile devices.
Of course there are lots of free and paided location-based applications at the Android Marketplace (if you have an Android phone).
Sherpa, developed by Geodelic specifically for T-Mobile’s myTouch 3G with Google, allows users to effortlessly discover the most relevant information based on their location and preferences. HTC’s myTouch 3G features a virtual keyboard which orients automatically from portrait to landscape mode.
Allowing your Web browser to determine your physical location opens the door to nifty features, but also opens the door to some privacy concerns, says PC World.
Firefox 3.5 works in conjunction with the Google Location Service (which is free). If you visit a site that can use your location, a pop-up bar at the top of the page asks you to allow or block the request. Allow it, and Firefox sends your IP address and data about nearby wireless access points to Google.
Apple’s Safari’s location service on the iPhone, prompts you when you visit a site that can use your location based on GPS, local Wi-Fi networks, or cellular network data (using Skyhook Wireless). The iPhone and iPod Touch use Skyhook’s WPS as the primary location engine for Google Maps and other applications. m.flickr.com, for example, lets you choose photos taken nearby option.
Location-aware applications are added to the iPhone App Store every day. There are now over 3,000 location apps. Of these it’s about a 25 / 75 split between free and paid apps.
There are now over 400 location-based applications available at the Android Marketplace, about 10% of the total apps on Android.
Hybrid positioning systems, which use GPS along with triangulation based on cellular or WiFi location, are increasingly being used for location-based services that need to work well in urban areas. Different hybrid positioning systems are currently being developed and used in services from Navizon, Xtify, PlaceEngine, SkyHook, and Google Maps for Mobile.
BBC’s Open Air application, uses Google’s Gears plugin for location coordinates to deliver a mash-up of localised weather forecasts and nature spots. Here’s their blog post description. In March the Beeb overhauled its mobile site, allowing users to personalise content types shown on their homepage, and last week added a My Club feature, letting football fans see news only from their own team. At the moment Gears is supported on all Android phones as well as newer Windows Mobile handsets. It’s also available as a plug-in for Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari on desktops, laptops and netbooks.
The user proposition is simple: go to www.bbcopenair.co.uk wherever you are and find the nearest relevant BBC content.
It’s a mystery why newspapers and television stations don’t geotag their archives and re-purpose them for mobile users. Small businesses are largely unserved by local media. Maybe you could do it yourself with OpenStreetMaps. Platial.com is a socially networked mapping platform which makes it easy to find, create, share, and publish maps and places. It runs on the iPhone.
OpenStreetMaps have also been used to create iPhone apps such as MotionX, which is targeted at hikers, skiers and bikers; B.iCycle, a cyclometer that shows burned calories, trip distance and trails; and ATM@UK, which shows all ATM locations in Great Britain.
Here’s neighborhood oral history from boisevoices.com. Ready to roll.
Hungry for a burrito? Chipotle’s iPhone app lets you to create an order, choose your pickup location, and even pay for it all from your iPhone or iPod Touch.
Perhaps transit information and local history could be placed on bus stops, streetcars & spashpages – all over town. Paid for with local advertising. Supporting local businesses. Building community.
Augmented Reality, which superimposes data over your live camera view, is available from Wikitude, Layar and an unlaunched iPhone browser from AcrossAir.
Wikitude’s Wikitude.me markup language runs on Android handsets. It provides an open, free mobile information platform to provide location based information or services via mobile phones.
In 2008 a total of 155 million smartphones were sold, or 13% of all cellphones. In 2013, IDC predicts that 20% of the 1.4 billion phones sold will be smartphones, or 280 million.
74% of Facebook ad revenue comes from local ads, says Fast Company, noting ad research firm Borrell Associates estimates the $310 million in ad revenue expected for Facebook in 2009, with an estimated 74% coming from local, location-based ads. MySpace has an estimated 27% from LBS ads and social networking at 20%.
In 2007, personal navigation devices dominated the GPS device market with more than 90% market share. But the availability of GPS-enabled mobile phones will account for around 70% of the market share by 2013, says a new market research report by RNCOS.
Related Location services articles on Dailywireless include; Google Crowdsources Live Traffic on Maps, Merits of Twitter Location Debated, Rental Bikes: Free with Location-based Apps?, Tom Tom: $99 iPhone Navigation App, Location-based Apps from Navigon and Skyhook, Tracking Tools, Loopt on Sprint Instinct, and Navigation: There’s an App for That.
