Services Mobile (of France) offers an interview with SquareLoop CEO Joe Walsh. Among other things he notes the three main drivers for LBS in the U.S.: "the iPhone, open device access and non-phone portable navigation systems."

C|net's Stephen Shankland picks Flickr on top, but explains the pros and cons of a host of others.

The bottom line, which disappoints me (I don't have a digital camera, so I've yet to play with such things):

But as with other aspects of geotagging, today's cartographically clever Web sites are likely to appeal chiefly to enthusiasts who have some patience and technical abilities. Just like we're not at the stage where most cameras can add a location stamp as easily as they can add a timestamp, we're not yet at the stage where most folks are going to start with an online map when they want to share their photos or reminisce.

On a related note, the New York Times' David Pogue picks out the latest geotagging tool for use when you take the pictures in his review of goodies from Comdex: PhotoFinder, from ATP Electronics. The price is right - $100 and it works with any camera with a memory card. The challenge? You must remember to turn on and carry the device (basically a GPS receiver with a memory card slot) while you are snapping the photos.

I've noted in the past that one of the disappointments for me in Web mapping is that all the sites tend to look alike. Back in the early days, I'm the first to admit, just getting the site up and running was challenging enough and worries about uniqueness came second, third or further back.

So, I'm always pleased to see a Web mapping implementation that looks different. I read in the Boca Raton News that the Palm Beach School District had an app to find one's local school. It takes advantage, the article says, of the city's site license for GIS software (ESRI based on a URL with ArcGISCache in it). I expected a straightforward site with an address search box that'd return a school name and perhaps a map. What I found was far more (I had no luck in Firefox; you've been warned.). In particular:

- hybrid map by default
- dialog boxes that are transparent when moving
- toolbar that's always transparent
- full set of pull down menus: Map Tools, Map Navigation, Map Options and Schools
- point locations identified with rippling waves from a symbol's center
- a whole new window required to show the attendence zone for a specific school

Two quick thoughts on this circa 2008 Web map:

(1) There's clearly a push to make such government sites look more like commercial ones (Google Maps)
(2) There's confidence the public is ready for a rich tool set

The Fairfax Education Foundation has defined "a model technology innovation program" to used in county middle schools. The three year program launches at a single middle school this winter. The career focused program focusses on "science, math and technology as well as strengthen their global awareness through geography."

The latter of course will be done by studying GIS and I believe GPS. There's no word on the cost of the program, but it's interesting that:

- the commonwealth of Virginia has donated licenses for the GIS software
- special curricula will be developed
- sponsors include Intel Corporation, Exxon Mobil, and Northrop Grumman

- Fairfax Times

Escapist Magazine notes that The Rainforest Foundation U.K. offers a game (Congo Jones and the Loggers of Doom) highlighting the the threat to the planet's remaining rainforests. In it the player helps locals map their lands to help keep them from greedy loggers. It's basically a "get through obstacles" Flash game, but the idea that mapping is often the first step to preservation should give the geo-inclined a warm feeling.

Jason Lee Miller at WebProNews reviews Hitwise's latest stats on the MapQuest vs. Google Maps battle. In short, Google Maps is catching up, if slowly. One stat:

"This [Google Maps up 7%] throttled down MapQuest's lead over Google Maps significantly, falling from 429 percent more visits a year ago to just 126 percent more visits.

Still, MapQuest has more than 50% of mapping hits to Google's 22% and Yahoo's 13% (and dropping).

Heather Hopkins VP at Hitwise offers that "Google's aggressive promotion of Google Maps – search result embeds and sponsored search results have helped drive the spike in traffic." I'd tend to agree if only because there's suprising little "coverage" of Google Maps in the press. Google Earth? Yes. Google Maps? Not so much as shown by mailing daily explorations.