I attended the Geoloco conference inward San Francisco on July 22nd 2010 too it was nifty to meet how early nosotros are inward this novel wave. There was fifty-fifty a big combat virtually geolocation beingness a feautre or a business... Anyway, I'll portion my fundamental takeaways.
Summary
The underlying tendency discussed inward the conference was the development of search into social too straight off into local. Altavista was 1 of the commencement movers inward the search chapter, Myspace inward the social too straight off Foursquare inward local, pregnant nosotros all the same are going to meet lots of changes inward local. Given the early phase of this chance non fifty-fifty consumers are seeing a lot of value (except alongside navigation). The challenge, both for trace of piece of occupation organisation too consumers, is to uncovering applications that be solely because of local, generating existent value. Data too privacy are the fundamental components for novel startups to leverage. The privacy number affects consumers too the information chemical element is the fundamental for businesses (think of the commencement navigation devices where information was stored inward the GPS box vs. the novel Google map-style models where information flows dorsum too forth constantly betwixt the device too the server). Another interesting aspect to recall virtually is how the location stack volition expression inward 2-4 years: what is going to endure a commodity too what volition endure monetized. Currently companies are blocking access to their data, generating silo solutions (an app for restaurants, foursquare, tripit, etc.). The inquiry is how too when are nosotros going to instruct over those contractual rules too make solutions that are to a greater extent than comprehensive.
Key trends to watch
1. Likely: Geodata volition endure gratis alongside mapping information from OpenStreetMap too other crowd-driven sources eclipsing commercial vendors
2. Very likely: Location-awareness volition endure an integral utilization of practically every mobile app where location is relevant too tin add together value - piece users volition direct maintain command (e.g. the mightiness to plow location disclosure on or off), location awareness volition no longer endure an exception or an "option" for developers of mobile app
3. Likely: More than one-half of all mobile advertising volition endure location-based
4. Very likely: Virtually whatsoever user-generated content (e.g. Tweets, Facebook updates, photos uploaded to Flickr, Yelp, etc.) tin endure automatically geotagged, allowing users to append location effortlessly. With automatic geotagging, users volition routinely add together "location" to their social data, resulting inward an exponential growth inward the mass of location-specific information"
5. Likely: Proximity volition instruct a critical filter for mobile users, routinely too widely used to discover, persuasion too deed on news, alerts, nearby deals too other content relevant non merely to their interests but equally good "near" (as defined past times the user) their location
6. Likely: Mobile devices capable of scanning QR codes too barcodes volition revolutionize the agency inward which individuals obtain information, store too mostly sense places. As businesses speedily comprehend too deploy the technology, scanning too retrieving information too offers via barcodes too QR codes volition endure equally slow too commonplace equally reading a brochure or package
7. Very likely: LBS volition endure integrated alongside social networks, enabling users to portion their real-time location alongside the appropriate people. For example, solid unit of measurement members (spouse, kids, parents) volition endure able to persuasion my location at whatsoever time; co-workers volition know my location during operate hours; friends inward my inner networks (the people I connect alongside the most) volition endure alerted if I move to their city; etc.
8. Likely: Location volition enable too foster meliorate communication, stronger ties too interactions amid individuals too their communities - e.g., neighborhoods (citizens, intelligence sources, government, etc.), local merchants, cities, hyperlocal news, etc. The equivalent of a "local"worlds broad spider web volition emerge
9. Likely: While location is an integral features of mobile apps, consumers volition endure reluctant to pay for whatsoever location-based services - they await location to endure a "free" value-added feature. However, where location is relevant, consumers volition strongly prefer apps too content that are location-aware over those that are unaware
10. Likely: Nearly 1 inward 2 consumers volition rest skeptical, fifty-fifty reluctant to discover their location, due inward utilization to highly publicized incidents resulting from location-sharing apps (including a serial of robberies, homicides, kidnappings)
Interesting data
• 20% of Google Searches are geo based (Mark Silva, Real Branding)
• Where.com
o 3M users
o launched hyperlocal promotion network before this twelvemonth too they are upwards to 1B impressions
o working straight alongside publishers to extend accomplish from 3M to 50M equally advertisers tending virtually reach
• Yelp
o 2.5M uniques on their mobile app (vs. 35M uniques on Yelp.com)
o 1/3 of total searches (including mobile too fixed) are coming from iPhone, but Android is growing faster
o 1M clicks per month, 500k calls ==> they are all the same non monetizing
• Jiwire
o seeing half dozen figure deals every calendar month for brands interested inward a really targeted audience based on location data
• 14% of mobile users inward the USA accessed maps on their devices inward Apr (34M people according to Comscore)
• Foursquare has 800k active users (2.1M registered) too 100k-200k active inward whatsoever given solar daytime ==> 1M check-ins per day
