10 Mobile, Geo Social Location-Aware Apps To Watch in 2010 - #1 Brightkite
Written by @gletham
Friday, 18 December 2009
Social media is cool, there’s no question about that, however, when
users have the ability to incorporate location with their social media
the possibilities are seemingly endless.
Share information and life
streams with people near you or simply tie your social media to a
specific location… the added value and usefulness in doing this results
in an your stream becoming even more useful and interesting. And so, to
honor the great strides that LBS solution providers are making with
location-aware apps, I’m pleased to share with you 10 amazing mobile
social-LBS apps (no particular order) that I think will continue to
make a splash as we head into 2010… enjoy!
Social Mobile LBS App #1 — Brightkite
(www.brightkite.com & Twitter @Brightkite) is a fun, social tool
based on users’ location and enables users to see who’s nearby and what
they are doing. I currently use Brightkite on iPhone although Android
and S60 supported clients are also available. Firing up Brightkite
causes the app to perform a hit on the user’s location. At that point
the user can then check-in, this pulls a POI search of nearby places of
interest where the user can select his location from the list or add
the place to the list of it doesn’t exist yet… the next time he checks
in at that location the POI should appear in the DB. During a check-in,
if the user has pre-defined sharing to social networks, details of the
check-in can be sent directly to Twitter providing a we blink url where
users can see details of the check-in along with a map and notes.
Brightkite also provides facebook connect for simple sharing of
location information with your facebook connections as well.
User Check-in seems to be the most widely used feature, although
social networking with other users is also enabled as is streaming and
sharing comments based on a specific event or hashtag (this was popular
at an Ignite Boulder event I attended last year). I frequently check-in
with a photo and so its great to know that Brightkite also provides
Flickr connect so mobile photo uploads can automatically be shared on
my Flickr stream as well… handy! See more at Brightkite.com and feel
free to connect with yours truly at http://brightkite.com/people/gisuser
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
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turned "ON)".
Mobile data usage in Canada to triple between 2010 and 2012 - Some interesting, yet not terribly surprising, numbers on mobile
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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
