Wednesday, May 14. 2008

Backpacker Goes to Where

So, if you are a bit bored of geo folks and tech folks covering Where 2.0, check out coverage from Backpacker Magazine. (I have to confess at one time it was my favorite publication; even borrowed the name of the editorial: The View from Here.)

Cell Tower Locating Coming to India Sparking LBS

Apparently the use of cell towers to locate cell phones is still very new in India. LiveMint (part of the Wall Street Journal) reports on Yalup, one of the first players to use the technology and its database of some businesses 150,000 in Bangalore alone to offer local search on cell phones. While the company is anticipating competition from Google, Microsoft and Nokia, the CEO claims its local data will help distinguish it.

Interestingly, the searches offered will use a static radius of 800 meters. "The listings you find would be (of those establishments) within a 800m (radius) of where you are located," says Gundaiah Sridhar, the 25-year-old chief executive officer of Yulop Websense Solutions Pvt. Ltd."