Spatial Media LBSzone Alert, Feb 25, 2009 - WHERE, G1, NAVTEQ, Trimble making news
Written by Spatial Media LLC
Thursday, 26 February 2009
Another weekly LBS industry news recap has been released... enjoy this
edition of the LBSzone Alert.. below you'll find a snippet from this
edition... (remember to also check out our LBSzone group on LinkedIn)
Hello from the Spatial Media LBSzone... Welcome once again.. today the G1 is getting some attention in the LBS space as the very popular WHERE mobile application
has rolled out for the Android OS and available to T-Mobile G1 users.
Recall WHERE provides location aware local content to such service
providers as as Yelp, Eventful, Zipcar, Starbucks, Gas Prices, and
Weather. WHERE will be available for download from the Android Market.
Speaking of Android developers, the Android Market
is now accepting applications from US and UK-based mobile developers.
Coming down the road, developers from Germany, Austria, Netherlands,
France, and Spain will be able to submit their apps (later this
quarter). T-Mobile G1 customers will soon have access to full-color,
3D, turn-by-turn GPS navigation from TeleNav. TeleNav GPS Navigator
is also expected to be available in the Android Market later this year.
Not to be outdone, iPhopers have also been making some splash lately,
for example, iPhone users are in for a real treat with this one... now
you can Tweet your location via the Schmap GeoTweeting application
- I'm a huge fan of the Schmap local guides! Geocaching is a huge sport
and now, enthusiasts can chase and locate caches using the iPhone
thanks to Groundspeak. Groundspeak, the owner of Geocaching.com is
making their US$9.99 Geocaching Application available online at Apple's iPhone Apps Store. Finally, DevToaster
(what a fantastic name!) has rolled out to LBS apps for iPhone: Curfew,
available for $1.99 on the iPhone App Store, e-mails a list of
user-specified contacts with a helpful message and the phone's current
GPS location. MyPanic, available for $4.99 on the App Store, is
intended for a wider audience and provides instant assistance in an
emergency. Wrapping things up, Trimble, the well know rugged, mobile
device maker made headlines this week from their annual Dimensions User
Conference in Vegas. The company made a big splash rolling out their Yuma Tablet
to Its Family of Outdoor Rugged Computing Products. Standard features
include integrated WiFi connectivity, Global Positioning System (GPS)
and two geotag-enabled cameras - Nice! On a side note, Dell even got
our attention this week when they announced the Dell mini
is now retailing for under $400 sporting 1GB RAM, several colors, and
integrated GPS - well done Dell! Is your company exhibiting at CTIA
Wireless in April? Contact us for details on how we can promote your
company prior to the event.
Mobile Technology Feature - Top 10 Business Apps for Android - Android has become one of the most popular mobile operating systems
in the world due to advanced software, competitive manufacturers, and an
app market that is filled with exciting and useful applications. Read
on for this fine Top 10 List compiled by tech writer, Blake Sanders
The Really Big List of Mapping, Geo location Mobile developer resources, APIs and Tools - The Mobile Ecosystem... no question that mobile is huge and
the opportunity for developers, in particular, geo developers! There's
loads of developer resources on the web so to help the developer,
here's a listing of just some of the fine dev resources, blogs,
toolsets and more to consider when developing or porting your app to a
smartphone or Tablet.
ArcGIS.com Mashup Tutorial with Flickr and Foursquare data-
Here's a simple "how to" tutorial on working with the free ArcGIS.com
to easily import KML or RSS data from Flickr and foursquare into ArcGIS
to create your own custom map mashup. ArcGIS.com has some recent
updates including support for KML, be sure to check it out!
Most Users of Free Photo Apps Say Adding Cool Effects is Most Useful - Adding cool effects
to photos was rated as the most useful thing by more than halfof
consumers surveyed using free online photography services, according to
CatchFree a free
online service that helps people find the best free mobile and web applications
to perform useful tasks.
Amazon Kindle Fire Tablet Up Close - No Replacement for the iPad But Pretty Darned Sweet - As could be
expected, speculation and blogging is rampant with many stories and
pseudo "reviews" coming out, many of them touting the next "iPad
killer".
Mobile Developer Resource - MapQuest & The Mobile Worker - Facility management companies, surveyors, multi-level marketing,
insurance claims, pipeline companies, water utilities; all have field
workers who would benefit from mobile applications. Not only checking in
to work sites, but keeping a record of the work done
Flickr GPS Photo Tag Tip - Here's a tip for Flickr users who want to share their GPS information
with their photos. note, in order to do this you'll need to be
capturing photos using a GPS-enabled or GPS-aware camera (see you're
smartphone hardware settings to ensure that GPS or location sharing is
turned "ON)".
Mobile data usage in Canada to triple between 2010 and 2012 - Some interesting, yet not terribly surprising, numbers on mobile
usage coming out of Canada. According to a report summarized on
Techvibes, mobile usage is soaring, in particular, the smartphone
segment
Social Location Directory
Do you have a location-aware application, social location service or other location-sensitive service that you'd like to share with us? Please browse this growing directory of Social location Services and feel free to leave a link to your favorite service! See the Directory HERE
Suggested Reading
The Underground Guide To The iPhone:
The iPhone is – if I may say so – one of the greatest mobile
revolutions of the past decade. More and more, mobile phones seem to
materialize out of our wildest dreams. Because of the tight integration
of third-party applications, you can do nearly everything with your
device — be it gaming, working, fooling around, and of course phoning.
Good Mobile Messaging: Executives and professional field forces spend an increasing amount of time on the road tending to business.
Mobile Apps - Native or Web?:
You probably have a plan to build a mobile app, but you've struggled
with the basic question - Should I build it using open web standards
such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, or should I build it as a native app
for the devices I want to target?
iBike Coach App- a new “Always On” feature always gathers data
Nike+ GPS App- for sports tracking, recording and sharing
Featured Events
Content & Apps for Automotive Europe 2012 (18-19 April, Germany)
will give you key insights on how in-vehicle connectivity is being
revolutionised as OEMs integrate dynamic content to stay relevant
throughout the vehicle life cycle.
Location Intelligence for Enterprise - Europe 2012, January 16-17, London Hear from Google, Jones Lang LaSalle, Tesco, Willis, Oracle,
ESRI, Microsoft, PBBI and many more as they debate the best strategies
for business models and integration.
Consumer Telematics Show 2012 (Jan 9, Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas, USA) is the most prestigious and
dynamic consumer telematics focused meeting for the automotive industry.
Held in Las Vegas on the eve of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES),
this year's senior-level speakers will include General Motors, Audi,
Toyota, Panasonic, Continental, Hughes Telematics, Gartner, KIA,
Mercedes-Benz and many more
Esri Dev Summit - The
Esri Developer Summit (DevSummit) brings together developers and GIS
professionals from all over the globe. March 26-29, 2012, Palm Springs,
CA
