Monday, May 12. 2008

Getting warmed up for Where 2.0

The event begins today; Directions Media will not be in attendance. But, with the wonders of modern communications, we can follow what's going on. Here's a preview of what's ahead based on pings from several companies making announcements:

FortiusOne will officially launch of Finder!, the first application of FortiusOne’s GeoCommons Suite. Finder! aims to turn unorganized, unsearchable, and unusable data, thus inhibiting their ability into something useable, so that users can produce actionable geo-intelligence. And, apparently you can visualize the found useful data in a variety of products from ESRI, Google and Microsoft.
My Take: Sounds like this app will intersect a bit with ERDAS' Titan and WeoGeo's self-named offering.

Whrrl is the "mobile social discovery service" from Pelago. It links mapping and micro-blogging, though you don't have to "do anything" because it tracks where you to and compares it with where friends go. In short, you "vote" with your feet! Major announcements are planned for the spring and summer including "iPhone and BlackBerry support, a Facebook app, carrier deals, and LBS and WPS initiatives." Rafe Needleman at Webware revisited Whrrl and offers thoughts on themes that may be found at Where.
My Take: Whrrl seems to be more of a tool to create/find reviews/suggestions of interesting locations than a social network. And, no, I'm not sure what WPS means here. But, this one is hard to ignore - it's got some serious investors.

Lightpole, the company that invites you "to illuminate your place in the world using your mobile phone," plans to announce "both strategic partner and new content significance"
My Take: Sounds a bit like Whrrl, but the "social" aspect, again, is played down.

Schmap, the company behind online and desktop "city guides" is announcing iPhone support. I found Schmap just interesting as a desktop/Web app though I have to say its more compelling on a mobile. The big interface tease? When you preform a local search, results are displayed in a list when the phone is vertical; turn it horizontal to get a map!
My Take: While a bit less social than Whrrl and Lightpole, users can create their own Schmaps, a bit of a different twist.

EveryScape offers up just a tease: "EveryScape will unveil its new global expansion program and new “Real World Online” with enhanced community features."
My Take: Remember, EveryScape was out with its street facing imagery before Google's StreetView and Mapplets. The company may be ahead of Google yet again.

Seero is there to debuting its new GPS-enabled video streams. You'll be able to embed live GPS-ed video via a widget. See more at Mashable. The Seero folks will be broadcasting live from Where you can view the vids at Ogle Earth and GEB.
My Take: This could make for some interesting citizen journalism.

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