Interesting to see a State Government embracing foursquare, however,
that’s what’s happening in Pennsylvania via the VisitPA initiative. No
surprise really as is evident from the VisitPA website at http://www.visitpa.com/.
You’ll notice the agency has embraced social media to connect with
visitors – makes sense to me! In addition to getting all the usual
tourism based information from the State resource, users can also
access a host of social resources to complement their trip planning,
including official sites on Youtube, facebook, Twitter, Flickr, and
foursquare.
Of particular interest is the new foursquare homepage for Visit PA found at http://foursquare.com/visitpa.
Here’s visitors can friend the State site and get information on
popular State tourism promoted resources and stops where they can
check-in, perhaps score a deal or promotion, and become mayor of the
stop. Not a bad idea so far apparently as the State resource currently
has more than 34,000 friend connections on foursquare.
Indeed this is a clever use of social media by a government run
agency and offers some nice ways for the State to be more transparent
with their visitors. For the businesses that are promoted by the State
foursquare site, they might be wise to invest in a little R&D and
take advantage of the following the State has managed to obtain to
date. How so? Well, to start, a business can embed a fancy foursquare
“todo” button on their websites or blogs, a great way to encourage fans
to follow them, checkin, and share their visits. Sample button for King
of Prussia Mall is provided below… More about Pennsylvania’s foursquare effort found HERE
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.
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
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.
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.
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)".
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?
Location summit 2012 - Back for its third year, the Location Business Summit will bring
together senior level executives from across the whole breadth of the
location ecosystem to discuss strategies, form partnerships, compare
trends and forge new business ventures. May 22-23, 2012, Amsterdam
WhereCamp Berlin 2012 - For those passionate about geographical specialties, WhereCamp Berlin
is gathering its attendees on the 22nd and 23rd of June. Everyone is
free to present and share topics, news and trends
