Flickr and Hunch co-founder, Caterina Fake, has launched a new online venture called Pinwheel where users can leave virtual notes pinned on a map. This location-based startup idea is still currently in invite-only private beta mode, but has already generated a lot of buzz online.
The potential difference between this and all the others just like it? Big name behind it.
- PSFK
Geoloqi, a powerful platform for next-generation location based services, officially launches today along with its language agnostic SDK for iOS and Android, and proprietary API. Geoloqi offers a complete stack of geolocation tools, including geo-fencing, messaging, security and analytics, that empowers the enterprise, government and developers to unlock the full potential of real-time location-based services and easily layer geolocation onto any device or application.
- press release
SpatialMatch.com, an overlay technology that can be embedded on an agent's website or perhaps on an entire multiple listing service, enables buyers to pursue properties using any number of lifestyle criteria. That's over and above the usual number of bedrooms and bathrooms and price, the benchmarks on which most people base their searches. ...
At CheckYourLandlord.com, potential renters can guard against dealing with shaky "accidental" landlords who turn to renting because they can't sell their underwater properties. Even though the owners are collecting rent, they sometimes can't keep up with their house payments and lose their properties to foreclosure.
For free, a renter can limit his or her risk by using the website to search databases to determine whether any notices of default have been filed against the property. Of course, there's no guarantee that the landlord won't run into financial difficulty after the place is rented. But at least you'll be warned before you sign a lease if he's already in trouble.
For $28 you can learn if the landlord owns the property, has filed for bankruptcy or other off-putting circumstances.
- LA Times
A recent ruling on GPS tracking has prompted the US Federal Bureau of Investigation to turn off about 3,000 tracking devices, says FBI General Counsel Andrew Weissmann. The Supreme Court ruling on US v. Jones, which found that placing a GPS tracker without a warrant constituted an illegal search, has apparently caused a "sea change" in the Bureau, leading it to draft broader guidelines for both GPS device use and related questions regarding the right to privacy.
- The Verge
by Adena Schutzberg on 02/27 at 06:25 AM |
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According to the Washington Post, the impending initial public offering (IPO) by Facebook, with its expected windfall of cash from investors, might encourage some employees to go looking for housing. But the prospective home buyers are a bit picky. You see, they might not want to live next to someone who works for Google, for example, or any other competitor for that matter.
“You get a Yahoo guy against a Facebook guy against a Zynga guy against an Apple guy against a Google guy, then it's not just about the house,” real estate agent Carol Rodoni told the paper. “It's about the egos.”
So, how might you go looking for a house that wasn't near a competitor. Well, without violating privacy laws, might you start by see how your friends (...and their friends) are using location-based social media? If people are checking in with Google+ might they be a Google employee versus someone who is a checking in with Facebook Places? If they check in with foursquare does that mean they lean one way or another? What about Tweets with location enabled? Could you mine Tweets that indicate that a neighborhood favors Apple products and thus indicates an enclave of Apple employees, that is, given a proximal location to Cupertino, for example.
Seems like a great opportunity to map neighborhoods by social media preferences. Although mining that kind of "big data" could mean you might need a database appliance. Or maybe someone will come up with a simple solution that we might find in the app store soon? But which app store?
Think about it.
by Joe Francica on 02/01 at 11:15 AM |
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The names are not as familiar to GIS folks at Autodesk and Pitney Bowes, but yesterday Bricsnet and MABEC Group also came together in a new relationship.
Bricsnet FM America, Inc. and MABEC Group, Inc. today formalized a strategic alliance to create a bi-directional data exchange between cloud-based BIM databases and Bricsnet, the corporate real estate/facilities management tool.
"Data exchange between Building Information Models and Geospatial Information Systems will greatly increase the ability of Integrated Workplace Management Systems to improve productivity for corporate real estate executives and facility managers," says David Karpook, Chief Executive Officer of Bricsnet, which is based in San Francisco.
- press release
by Adena Schutzberg on 01/11 at 05:55 AM |
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The iPhone app for agents from Trulia was announced before the holidays.
Trulia, a leading site for home buyers, sellers, renters and real estate professionals, today announced the launch of a brand new iPhone app, Trulia for Agents. The iPhone app integrates mobile, social and location-based technologies to help agents meet new clients, showcase their local expertise and access their business from anywhere. The Trulia for Agents iPhone app is the first national mobile application designed specifically for the residential Real Estate Industry. Agents can download the app for free from Trulia.com or the iTunes store.
It can pit agents against one another, but also lets clients see where their agents are checking in.
- press release
FoursCrowd uses foursquare’s API to show you which locations in your area are the most popular, and uses data from previous days to predict whether that spot will be popular at any given time.
Clearly, 2012 is about the metaapp.
- The NextWeb
MapMuse today announced the release of its Winter Funand Winter Services maps, two series of web-based locators that find winter-themed retailers, services, and places across the USA and Canada.
There's an iPhone app, too.
- press release
by Adena Schutzberg on 01/05 at 04:50 AM |
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A new feature of the site that evalutes the walkability of cities allows visitors to select a location where one works and find appartments based on commute times by walking, biking or public transit.
- via @timoreiily
My city, Somerville, MA ranks #2 on walkability in the state of Masschusetts (topped by neighbor Cambridge - but yeah we are used to that...still our running club is faster than theirs...). And we are 5th among 70,000+ population cities in the U.S. and 10th overall in the U.S.. This is why I can pretty accurately say I travel more bike miles + running miles than car miles most years.
- Boston Globe
How is the site making money? More than ten thousand websites are paying to use its maps/APIs on their sites, most focused on real estate.
- Walkscore Blog
by Adena Schutzberg on 10/03 at 03:00 AM |
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