Twitter Geo API Available

It went live yesterday (Twitter blog) and the Twittersphere was excited. The only challenge: it’s an API so only developers, not end users, could do anything with it.  Further, you can’t take advantage of the API from the website, so, no cool location maps when using Twitter.com. But, those developers who build their own apps are already using the API:  Birdfeed, Seesmic Web, Foursquare, Gowalla, Twidroid, Twittelator Pro. There’s a nice best practices doc for developers, that’s also valuable for end-users, I must say.

For us end-users on the site: for now, all you can do is turn the geotagging feature on or off (it’s OFF by default). You do that via your settings where you can also delete your location history.

ReadWriteWeb has a nice overview of the kinds of apps the API may make possible.

Quote of the Week

“Technology has changed a great deal since I went to college. We used to take measurements by hand. We now have GIS systems where you can map a boundary.  A new person entering the field really needs to have those skills and the new course curriculums such as the program at UC San Diego Extension provide that kind of training.”

Bill Chopyk, director of planning and development services for the City of La Mesa, CA and a planner for 25 years on what new geospatial and CAD skills job seekers need, quoted at the San Diego News Network.