April 18, 2011 11:15 AM

By now, most of the wired population have heard of Foursquare (I've certainly blogged about Foursquare enough). Foursquare may be the most popular location-based mobile application, but it certainly not the first or only.

Below is a list of location-based mobile applications, that is the apps are able to able to determine users' physical location and then either allow them to upload content referenced to that place or to receive content relevant to that location. I categorized them based on what appears to be the applications leading purpose. However, many applications - of which Foursquare is certainly a prime example - offer overlapping functionality.

I haven't tried these all out - some of them are not even available on BlackBerry, so I'd love to hear others' experience.

The descriptions in quotation marks are taken from that application's website.

Coordination & Safety

• Crowdmap by Ushahidi - open-source hosted solution to present location-specific crowdsourced info whether for activism, crises, or community projects
  
• Groundcrew - "coordinates on-the-ground action with your people. Use location, availability, and skills to mobilize in realtime."
  
• Guardly - "When an emergency occurs, your personal safety network will always know where you're located....we can pin-point your exact GPS location and provide you with valuable information about what's located around you, and how it can aid your situation."
• Navimote - parental surveillance via this background app that "allows you or someone you permit to retrieve the current location of your phone/computer when they want to do so" with live, on demand-positioning (i.e. not check-in based)

• Flickr - upload & search for geotagged or georeferenced photos (also the ZoneTag tool from Yahoo appears to facilitate this)
  
• Geoloqi - "securely shari[e] location data, with features such as Geonotes, proximal notification, and sharing real-time GPS maps with friends."
  
• Murmur - recorded oral histories of place, uses old cellphone tech as users see plaque and call specific number to hear targetted message
  
• Tagwhat - "create and share location based messages... Tag what matters to you in your personal map from your desk or mobile. Add text, urls, photos, phone numbers, or videos to your tags. Find people, companies, and causes to follow"
• Task Ave - "location-aware reminders. Magically get alerts when you're nearby a task."
  
• Voxora - "voicemail for places", integrates with Foursquare

• Brightkite - "see where all your friends are... You can also discover places in your neighborhood and meet other locals"
• Facebook Places - "Share where you are. Connect with friends nearby. Find local deals"
• Google Latitude - "See where your friends are right now"
  
• Gowalla - "Keep up with your friends, share the places you go, and discover the extraordinary in the world around you"
  
• Hurricane Party - "helps friends find, share, and create spontaneous parties"
• Loopt - connects with Facebook to see what and where friends are - also facilitates financial incentives
• Plazes - seems like basic friend finding
  
• Skout -"find interesting singles close-by, strike up a conversation, maybe grab a drink or share a cup of coffee"

• Google Places - "an ultimate pocket guide - personalized for you. Find, rate and share places around you"
• Layar - augmented reality browser
• Local Books by Library Thing "It shows you local bookstores, libraries and bookish events wherever you are or plan to be."
• MapDing - hyperlocal classifieds
  
• Poynt - local search with proximity based reviews and mapping
  
• Twitter Places - search for tweets within a specified area or tag places in your tweets
• YellowPages - detects your location or enter one to retrieve nearby businesses or people

• Bizzy - "tell Bizzy about your favorite places by answering questions like, "Who's got the best sushi?"... Bizzy finds other people who like the same places you do and gives you personalized recommendations for great places to eat, shop and play"
• DontEat.at - Foursquare-based and only in NYC it sends "a text message when you check into a NYC restaurant that is at risk of being closed for health code violations"
• Google Hotpot - "Rate places and add friends to get personalized recommendations whenever you search for places on Google."
• Whrrl - invites users to join interest and brand based groups to get recommendations, tips, and deals
• Yelp & Citysearch - user-generated local reviews combined with local search engine

• Booyah - they make a variety of games, including MyTown and Nightclub City
• Hidden Park - "iPhone adventure game created especially for young families...lead(s) children into a fantasy world of trolls, fairies and tree genies - right in their local park"
• My Town - "built around your local shops, restaurants, and hangouts. Level-up, unlock items, and earn cash to buy your favorite real-life locations."
• SCVNGR - "share where you are & what you're up to with your friends. Do challenges to earn points and unlock badges & real-world rewards."

• BlackBerry Traffic by RIM uses GPS and customized maps to "establish your estimated time of arrival (ETA), find out if a road is closed, or decide to take a faster, alternate route"
  
• MyCar Park - "capture your parking location on a map, add a photo, and comments... Then built in maps direct you to your car from your current location."

Shopping

• Shopkick - "gives you rewards and offers simply for walking into stores, for scanning products, and for signing up friends"
  

Historical & Experimental

• Dodgeball - SMS, pre-cursor to Foursquare bought by Google and eventually shut down (See CNET eulogy)
• Magitti - local recommendation, from PARC (See ReadWriteWeb article)

Blogger Profile: Glen Farrelly
Glen's experience in the Internet has covered the full spectrum from coding to content, and from planning to promotion. This gives him a unique ability to help direct a company’s online strategy, while also having the know-how to lead a project to successful completion.

Posted by Sue Ansell at April 18, 2011 11:15 AM

Categories: Mobility

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