All Points Blog - LBS

Citysearch wants you to know...

joe.francica@directionsmag.com (Joe Francica) — Wed, 1 Jul 2009 07:46:38 -0500

This from Mike Francesconi at Citysearch:

Citysearch and IAC are on the hunt for a killer, local mobile/web application for our site Sidewalk.com. We recently announced the launch of our right here, right now contest to find a brilliant idea for a local mobile/web app that focuses on making life easiern.
The creator of the winning application will win a $10,000 grand prize, and possibly, the opportunity to develop and manage a new business venture with up to $1 million dollars in funding and receive an equity stake in the new Sidewalk.com venture, and access to the Citysearch publisher network allowing them to instantly monetize traffic.

Check out all the details on the contest at sidewalk.com and follow our updates at twitter.com/sidewalkdotcom

EveryTrail Moves from B2C to B2B

(Adena Schutzberg) — Wed, 1 Jul 2009 06:00:00 -0500

GPS Business News has an interview with joost Schreve, the CEO of GlobalMotion, the company behind the social/location/travel/sharing site. (One of my students evaluated it, which is how I ran into it.) While B2C is growing, the real money seems to be in licensing the platform to other businesses including GlobalStar, the company behind the SPOT locator and REI. I suspect many other LBS companies will need to "adjust" their business models.

Wired on LBS

(Adena Schutzberg) — Wed, 1 Jul 2009 05:29:24 -0500

One piece by Clive Thompson at Wired looks at the LBS market in the context of the oxymoron that the Web means location doesn't matter, but that location-knowing devices means it does. Mentioned: Loopt, Socialight, Skyhook. Next big thing, per the article, "tagging."

NAVTEQ's Mobile Traffic App Update

(Adena Schutzberg) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 06:47:09 -0500

You may have missed yesterday's press release from NAVTEQ noting an update to its traffic information app for mobile phones (any with a browser) for free. There are, per C|net some unobtrusive ads, and the navigation is "interesting." The "east" and "west" links to slide the map one way or the other, are not in their typical orientation.

It's hard to imagine that users really want one app for finding directions or local services and another for traffic information. I'm hopeful this is simply a way to get the word out that this sort of functionality (and detail) should be embedded in other apps, a la "Intel Inside," though NAVTEQ uses "NAVTEQ onboard."

Foursquare to add push notification of locations in latest iPhone app

(Adena Schutzberg) — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 08:57:17 -0500

Now, instead of your friends having to actively look up the last place from which you checked in, they can get "pushed" a message about your new whereabouts. TechCrunch thinks some will love this, others will hate it. More options and more control seem to be the best any LBS provider can offer. The new app will be available for free via the App Store soon.

Podcast: Why not code the real world?

(Adena Schutzberg) — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 01:00:00 -0500

While much money is spent noting attributes of physical objects on paper maps or in electronic files, only for them to be of limited use in the field, why do we not simply code more real world object with key information? In Akron fire hydrants are coded with their water pressure by their colored domes. Even as we put all this information into databases, should we also think more about simply it putting it right where it's needed?

Subscribe to Podcast RSS

Listen Now (to download, right click on the link at left and choose "save target as")

Read the show notes

Missed any podcasts? Want to subscribe via iTunes, Yahoo, etc? Here's the index.

Flickr's Location-based Image Gallery

(Adena Schutzberg) — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 06:00:00 -0500

Yahoo announced a new feature of its mobile Flickr page. Those using Android-based phones or iPhones can click a button to "find images taken nearby." Once the user gives permission to the page to determine location, images are found and displayed.

- Flickr Blog
via MocoNews

NearYoo - Using user submitted location over GPS, triangulation

(Adena Schutzberg) — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 06:00:00 -0500

That's the premise of the business model of NearYoo - "you" submit your location via SMS and its servers "put you on the map" for your friends to see. The odd bit - you need to user their syntax ">Location." Many other companies are using SMS for location-based solutions. None seem to have the impact of solutions that automagically "know" your location. Solution looking for a problem?

- IntoMobile

LBS Apps for Wimbledon, U.S. Open

(Adena Schutzberg) — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 06:29:56 -0500

IBM is a partner in Wimbledon, so it makes sense it's offering mobile apps to support the event. One is not that interesting (tweet aggregator) but another is: an Android "augmented reality" app that provides information based on where you are (point phone at court, what court it is, who is playing there now and in future, etc.). The best feature: live data from the scoring center and IBM scouts at the venue. Video after the jump.

- Stuff.tv

A free version of Golfshot for Bethpage State Park Golf Course BLACK, home of this year's U.S. Open feature imagery and GPS-based distance to the hole for those live on the course and in preview mode for those at home. If this is meant for tracking the event, it really has to include real time coverage.

- press release

In running the best you typically can do is track runner's progress via text. That's only vaguely helpful for say, someone looking to "find" their runner at mile 18.6 of a marathon. Each year a dedicated team from my club attempts to support our teammates by providing them fluids/nutrition and the best we can do is expect them based on who passed before them. Ideally, I'd want an estimate based on their pace, of when they'll pass where I am. I'd also like a regularly updated leader board. It took quite some time at Boston for word to filter back to us that Ryan and Kara each took third. During my first Boston Marathon my brother and family went home because they thought I'd dropped out based on SMS from the automated system. I hadn't.
Continue reading "LBS Apps for Wimbledon, U.S. Open"

Too Many Social Networks...I'm all a Twitter

joe.francica@directionsmag.com (Joe Francica) — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 17:02:00 -0500

Over a year ago, I went to a presentation at a conference where the speaker was talking about how he had created a "map" of the multiple social networks that he used. I thought..."where does this guy find the time?" Now, we think nothing of using LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and others to enhance cybersocialization. Recent editions of both Time and Business Week focused on Twitter. Facebook, of course, has been written about to death.

Now comes the big question: What really is useful for my needs? In preparation for the GITA conference and user conferences for Intergraph, Pitney Bowes Business Insight and Korem, which I have attended recently, not to mention the upcoming ESRI UC, each event was or is touting multiple social networks to use during the event. This is in addition to yet new platforms, like Zerista, used by GITA, and Chance2Meet that are specifically for pre-conference networking so you can arrange meetings, etc.

Folks, I don't know about you but eventually all of this is going to shake out if for no other reason than market dynamics will blow one or more of these off the planet. Now, I like social nets as much as any Twitizen but you can see where your average "Joe" is confused by all the hype and bluster. When faced with the challenge of using your Facebook account to "friend" the Intergraph User's Conference, I might think twice.

I used Zerista extensively to set up meetings at GITA. It worked well, until I got to the event and then it was not particularly helpful since I was blogging and tweeting my news reports. I just didn't have time to use the Zerista interface thereafter. Plus, email is still the preferred social networking solution, right? Just send someone an email to set up an appointment.

So, all of this comes down to the fact that we just don't need to have an account with every social net that comes down the cyberpike. The problem is, everyone else thinks that if you don't support one social net over the other, someone will be left out or feel slighted...or worse, feel like they are not adequately networked for the Twiterati.

Podcast: Location-based Advertising...It's Not Working...Here's Why

joe.francica@directionsmag.com (Joe Francica) — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 09:00:00 -0500

In the much-hyped, Madison Avenue world of mobile location-based advertising, the Holy Grail seems within the grasp for retailers looking for that one-to-one marketing nirvana oft cited in the early nineties. But in its current model, its not working the way it should or can. Today's business model uses "push" advertising to mobile devices. But what if the model should be "pull" thus allowing consumers to determine when, where and how they should receive ads. Editor in chief Joe Francica explores this model and more.

Subscribe to Podcast RSS

Listen Now (to download, right click on the link at left and choose "save target as")

Read the show notes

Missed any podcasts? Want to subscribe via iTunes, Yahoo, etc? Here's the index.

Using Foursquare to Track InternetWeek Week Visitors

(Adena Schutzberg) — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 12:31:05 -0500

Sam Lessin (Drop.io) crunched data collected from some 100 contacts based on their "check ins" in the mobile social network Foursqaure during the weeklong event in NYC last month.

Lessin trawled through the data to find what time people checked into coffee shops in the morning (and whether they were doing this earlier or later on a given day), how much people "lost steam" over the course of a party- and conference-filled week, and how much the most popular gatherings actually matched up to the Internet Week New York official schedule. As it turns out, the hottest parties were impromptu, unofficial gatherings at the Standard Hotel and, um, Sing Sing Karaoke.

How might someone use this data to plan for, or react to conference audiences or other groups that might be "tracked?"

- C|net
- Lessin's report

TomTom to Team with Apple; Stock Jumps 17%

(Adena Schutzberg) — Tue, 9 Jun 2009 08:35:22 -0500

After some tough months I'm sure the folks at TomTom were pleased with the market response to the announcement made yesterday at Apple World Wide Developer Conference. For now, TomTom is the only nav developer to partner with Apple. The first app, and a car kit for the iPhone, is slated for release this summer, when further details and pricing will be shared. One analyst suggested a $50 price point, about the same level as TomTom's introductory hardware offering, though this is far above the price of most apps in the AppStore.

- Wall Street Journal

Most Searched Brands on Where...

(Adena Schutzberg) — Wed, 3 Jun 2009 06:00:00 -0500

Per GigaOm:

"Wal-Mart, Pizza Hut, Target, Papa Johns, McDonalds, Bank of America and Taco Bell."

My question: how often do people search for a particular brand vs. a generic. That is, how often do people search "pizza" vs. "Papa Johns"? And, what does that say for the mom and pop hyperlocal vendors?

BrightKite Blackberry App Goes Open Source

(Adena Schutzberg) — Wed, 3 Jun 2009 06:00:00 -0500

The app was written against the BrightKite API by a third party developer Chris Hallgren. He turned it open source to help make it flashier and better.

- ReadWriteWeb