Foursquare Loses Me

After hearing awhile ago that one of my favourite mobile apps, Foursquare, would me splitting into two I was not eager for the changes.  I'm not normally one who hates all changes to their favourite apps. (Every time Facebook makes any change I can anticipate the tiresome complaints from the regular suspects.)

I was an early adopter and continual user of Foursquare and blogged a lot about them. For those not familiar with Foursquare - or who checked it out when it launched and then forgot about it - Foursquare is a leader in location-based services and geosocial networking.  Since its launch, people could virtually indicate their presence at a physically location through the service. Users could also add associated public reviews or share status updates for one's friends.  The app made it easy to see where your friends were and to find nearby places and business of interest.

Earlier this month, Foursquare announced they would be splitting these services into two apps. A new app, Swarm, would be launched for geosocial networking and the Foursquare app would maintain social recommendation features.

I acknowledge that many of the gaming and title features that initially drove usage through novelty - the mayorships of places and humourous badges based on check-ins - were no longer compelling. There were occasional real-world benefits - in my years of using Foursquare I got a free gelato and a 10% discount on concessions from my local cinema. Ben Heyman addresses Foursquare and other app's challenges with pointless gamification, Foursquare Committed Suicide, Signaling the End of the Gamification Fad.

But it wasn't all about that. And, I still believe Foursquare had unique value

It's great as a place diary. I enjoying recording and sharing with my friends any interesting places I was at or any interesting commentary I had. Not everything merits publishing on Facebook or Twitter.

I also liked the ability to explore the world around me. It's great to find out if there are businesses near to me that my friends or other users like. But I enjoy the social and unofficial histories of normal and special places that Foursquare offered. Foursquare also had lists that enabled social, place-based curation that was also great. Granted, the app Findery is doing this better, but they have only recently launched an app (iPhone only) and it has not hit a critical mass that gives it vitality or stickiness.

I liked how Foursquare had all these features in one place. I loved how it was an app where the central feature is place. This allows a different view of the world than other apps entail. It grounds us to our place, while opening up our world to our social network.

I understood why Foursquare needed to change to keep their massive number of users, however. Matthew Panzarino wrote an excellent article on this for TechCrunch, Foursquare’s Swarm And The Rise Of The Invisible App. He argues that as smartphone media have become more mature we have transitioned from replicated prior technology to multi-purpose apps that offerred a plethora of features (such as Foursquare). In the era of people ever-increasing number of apps and ever-dwindling free time, we are now seeing a new era of apps,

These ‘invisible apps’ are less about the way they look or how many features they cram in and more about maximizing their usefulness to you without monopolizing your attention.... A confluence of factors have made these kinds of context-aware apps possible at this point in time. Increasing power efficiency in physical memory and device processors has led to better battery life

 Today, I tried out the new app Swarm and a sneak-peak of the new Foursquare (the old interface is being grandfathered out).

Swarm is definitely easy-to-use and seems great at what it does - geosocial networking. Swarm has features Foursquare didn't have, such as social coordination tools (helps you plan a semi-spontaneous events with your circle), auto check-in options, and better friend geo-tracking displays. The ability to set Swarm to check you into places automatically is key to its utility as Wired has identified. There are also some "sticker" features that I seem like glorified emoticons. But the place check-in is central to the app, as it was with Foursquare. One can check into a place manually in the same way as one did before on Foursquare. Once checked into a place Swarm is linking to Foursquare for friends' and other users' reviews.

Swarm is cool, but aimed at the party crowd (which I am not one any more - okay I never was).  There are (or rather were) many apps that did this. Perhaps, Foursquare's large number or users and slick interface will help it succeed where others have failed.

Downloading Swarm is super quick and easy. Foursquare is automatically porting user's data to Swarm. It makes transferring to the new app easy.  So from that standpoint the split is handled well, but some people might not like their data ported to another app without their permission (or knowledge).

The old Foursquare app will become essentially just a social and proximity recommendation app for businesses and sites pretty much just like Yelp or Yellow Pages' app. With the geosocial networking features largely removed from Foursquare, it seems like the only reason to use it would be when one wants to get a recommendation for a nearby business or site with one's friends reviews getting special status. Foursquare long ago buried their lists features to the point that it is impossible to find other users lists.

So now Foursquare becomes a passive tool for searching for proximal info. I get that local search and advertising is a potentially lucrative market for much-needed revenue for the company. It's definitely a useful feature, which I will no doubt use occasionally. But unless I'm travelling, I don't visit very many new areas. And when I do go somewhere new and special, I am not going to use two apps. Foursquare used to be the app that made place a single, pivotal focus. By splitting its focus, it adds up to less than the sum of its original parts.

Key Literature on Locative Media & Location-Based Services

In the last few months, there has been a lot more academic literature published on locative media. There used to be so little academic, trade, or popular literature on the topic that it was easy to keep a handle on everything. But as the field matures, the volume of coverage grows.

Over the past two weeks, I've been updating my literature review on the topic. My focus is the content, user-experience, and adoption. I made a timeline of the key literature (below) to get a sense of the key scholars and when the concept has entered various domains (e.g. popular magazines, conferences, encyclopedias, dissertations, specialized journals, etc.). I've thrown in my articles to get some attention to my neglected work.

Bibliography of early, key, and my literature on locative media. The list is chronological order by year then by author surname:

1999
Finnish Phone Maker Intros GPS/GSM Navigation Phone. (1999). Global Positioning & Navigation News, 9(21), 1.

Russell, B. (1999). Headmap Manifesto. Retrieved from http://tecfa.unige.ch/~nova/headmap-manifesto.pdf

Tanikawa, M. (1999, July 26). A high-tech wonder that helps you wander. Time. Retrieved from http://www.cnn.com/ASIANOW/time/asia/travel_watch/990726.html

2002
Cohn, M. (2002). It’s all about location. Internet World, 8(6), 44–46.

Hodes, T. D. (2002). Discovery and adaptation for location-based services (Doctoral dissertation). University of California, Berkeley.


2003
Adams, P. M., Ashwell, G. W. B., & Baxter, R. (2003). Location-based services - An overview of the standards. BT Technology Journal, 21(1), 34–43.

Cuff, D. (2003). Immanent domain: Pervasive computing and the public realm. Journal of Architectural Education, 57(1), 43–49.

Kaasinen, E. (2003). User needs for location-aware mobile services. Personal and Ubiquitous Computing, 7(1), 70–79.

O’Donovan, C. (2003). Murmurings: An interview with members of the [murmur] collective. Year Zero One Forum, (12). Retrieved from http://www.year01.com/archive/forum/issue12/caitlin.html

Rao, B., & Minakakis, L. (2003). Evolution of mobile location-based services. Communications of the ACM, 46(12), 61.


2004
Gibbs, M. (2004). Locative media. Art Monthly, (280), 40–40.

Hemment, D. (2004, January 4). The locative dystopia. nettime.org. Retrieved from http://eprints.lancs.ac.uk/30831

Lima, P. (2004, September 2). It’s all about location, location, location. Backbone Magazine. Retrieved from http://www.backbonemag.com/Magazine/New_Developments_07060609.asp

Tuters, M. (2004). Locative media as the digital production of nomadic space. Geography, 89(1), 78–82.


2005
Küpper, A. (2005). Location-based services: Fundamentals and operation. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.


2006
Chang, M., & Goodman, E. (2006). Asphalt games: Enacting place through locative media. Leonardo Electronic Almanac, 14(3-4). Retrieved from http://www.leoalmanac.org/leonardo-electronic-almanac-volume-14-no-3-4-june-july-2006/

Galloway, A., & Ward, M. (2006). Locative media as socialising and spatializing practice. Leonardo Electronic Almanac, 14(3-4). 

Hemment, D. (2006). Locative media. Leonardo Electronic Almanac, 14(3-4). Retrieved from http://www.leoalmanac.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Guest-Editorial-by-Drew-Hemment-Leonardo-Electronic-Almanac.pdf

Kraan, A. (2006). To act in public through geo-annotation social encounters through locative media art. Open, 11. Retrieved from http://www.skor.nl/article-2883-en.html

Manovich, L. (2006). The poetics of augmented space. Visual Communication, 5(2), 219–240.

Mccullough, M. (2006). On urban markup: Frames of reference in location models for participatory urbanism. Leonardo Electronic Almanac, 14(3-4).

Shirvanee, L. (2006). Locative viscosity: Traces of social histories in public space. Leonardo Electronic Almanac, 14(3-4).

Townsend, A. (2006). Locative-media artists in the contested-aware city. Leonardo, 39(4), 345–347.

Tuters, M., & Varnelis, K. (2006). Beyond locative media: Giving shape to the Internet of Things. Leonardo, 39(4), 357–363. doi:10.1162/leon.2006.39.4.357

Tuters, M., & Varnelis, K. (2006). Beyond locative media. In Networked Publics. Retrieved from http://networkedpublics.org/locative_media/beyond_locative_media

Wang, J., & Canny, J. (2006). End-user place annotation on mobile devices. In CHI ’06 extended abstracts on Human factors in computing systems (p. 1493). Montréal, PQ.


2007
Blume, H. (2007, August 19). Q&A with William Gibson. The Boston Globe. Retrieved from http://www.boston.com/news/globe/ideas/articles/2007/08/19/qa_with_william_gibson/

Crang, M., & Graham, S. (2007). Sentient cities: Ambient intelligence and the politics of urban space. Information, Communication & Society, 10(6), 789.

Ludford, P. J., Priedhorsky, R., Reily, K., & Terveen, L. (2007). Capturing, sharing, and using local place information. In Proc. of the SIGCHI Conf. on Human Factors in Comp. Systems (pp. 1235–1244). New York, NY, ACM.

May, A., Bayer, S. H., & Ross, T. (2007). A survey of “young social” and “professional” users of location-based services in the UK. Journal of Location Based Services, 1(2), 112–132.

Paay, J., & Kjeldskov, J. (2007). A gestalt theoretic perspective on the user experience of LBS. In Proc. of the 2007 Australasian Comp.-Human Interaction Conf. (pp. 283–290). Adelaide, Australia.

Raper, J., Gartner, G., Karimi, H., & Rizos, C. (2007). Applications of LBS: A selected review. Journal of Location Based Services, 1(2), 89.

Raper, J., Gartner, G., Karimi, H., & Rizos, C. (2007). A critical evaluation of LBS and their potential. Journal of Location Based Services, 1(1), 5–45.

Vollrath, C. (2007). The uncanny impulse of locative media. In International Communication Association.


2008
Barkhuus, L., Brown, B., Bell, M., Sherwood, S., Hall, M., & Chalmers, M. (2008). From awareness to repartee: Sharing location within social groups. In Proceedings of the 26th Annual SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 497–506). New York, NY: ACM.

Bridwell, S. (2008). Location-based services (LBS). In (K.Kemp, Ed.) Encyclopedia of geographic information science. Los Angeles, CA: Sage.

Erickson, I. M. (2008). On location: Socio-locative broadcasting as situated rhetorical action (Doctoral dissertation). Stanford University, CA.

Ladly, M. J. (2008). Designing for mobile: A walk in the park. Canadian Journal of Communication, 33(3).

Licoppe, C., & Inada, Y. (2008). Geolocalized technologies, location-aware communities, and personal territories: The Mogi case. Journal of Urban Technology, 15(3), 5.

Rizopoulos, C., Charitos, D., Kousompolis, D., & Kaimakamis, N. (2008). Towards a theoretical model of communication via locative media use. 2008 IET 4th International Conference on Intelligent Environments, 1–8.

Veronesi, F.,& Gemeinboeck, P. (2009). Mapping footprints: A sonic walkthrough of landscapes and cultures. Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, 15(3), 359–369.

Wilde, E., & Kofahl, M. (2008). The locative web. In Proceedings of the 1st International Workshop on Location and the Web (pp. 1–8). Beijing, China.


2009
Brimicombe, A.,& Li, C. (2009). Location-based services and geo-information engineering. Chichester, UK: Wiley.

Edwardes, A. J. (2009). Geographical perspectives on location for location based services. In Proceedings of the 2nd International Workshop on Location and the Web (pp. 1–4). Boston, MA.

Farman, J. (2009). Locative life: Geocaching, mobile gaming, and embodiment. In Proceedings of the Digital Arts and Culture.

Gay, G. (2009). Context-aware mobile computing: Affordances of space, social awareness, and social influence. Synthesis Lectures on Human-Centered Informatics, 2(1), 1–62. 

Harrison, B., & Dey, A. (2009). What have you done with location-based services lately? IEEE Pervasive Computing, 8(4), 66–70.

Prehofer, C. (2009). Real-world experiences with indoor location based services. In Proceedings of the 2009 international conference on Pervasive services (p. 143). London, UK. 


2010
Beaumont, C. (2010, June 4). Foursquare blocked in China. The Telegraph. Retrieved from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/social-media/7802992/Foursquare-blocked-in-China.html

Berry, M., & Hamilton, M. (2010). Mobile computing applications: Bluetooth for local voices. Journal of Urban Technology, 17(2), 37.

de Souza e Silva, A., & Frith, J. (2010). Locative mobile social networks: mapping communication and location in urban spaces. Mobilities, 5(4), 485–505.

de Souza e Silva, A.,& Frith, J. (2010). Locational privacy in public spaces: Media discourses on location-aware mobile technologies. Communication, Culture & Critique, 3(4), 503–525.

Lemos, A. (2010). Post-mass media functions, locative media, and informational territories: New ways of thinking about territory, place, and mobility in contemporary society. Space & Culture, 13(4), 403–420.

Levy, S. (2010, August). A sense of place. Wired, 18(8), 60.

Schwarzer, M. (2010, June 8). Sense of place, a world of augmented reality. Design Observer Group. Retrieved from http://places.designobserver.com/entry.html?entry=13618

Speed, C. (2010). Developing a sense of place with locative media: An “underview effect.” Leonardo, 43(2), 169–174.

Van Lammeren, R., & Goossen, M. (2010). Interactive location-based services: problems and perspectives on the example of a cultural site. Journal of Location Based Services, 4(2), 105. 

Zickuhr, K., & Smith, A. (2010). 4% of online Americans use location-based services. Pew Research Center. Retrieved from http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2010/Location-based-services.aspx



2011
Cornelio, G. S., & Ardévol, E. (2011). Practices of place-making through locative media artworks. Communications: The European Journal of Communication Research, 36(3), 313–333.

Cramer, H., Rost, M., & Holmquist, L. E. (2011). Performing a check-in: Emerging practices, norms and “conflicts” in location-sharing using foursquare. In Proceedings of the 13th Intl. Conf. on Human Computer Interaction with Mobile Devices and Services (pp. 57–66). New York, NY: ACM.

Evans, L. (2011). Location-based services: Transformation of the experience of space. Journal of Location Based Services, 1–19.

Farrelly, G. (February 28, 2011). Pondering effects of Foursquare. Backbone Magazine. Retrieved from http://www.backbonemag.com/Backblog/pondering-effects-of-foursquare.aspx

de Souza e Silva, A., & Sutko, D. (2011). Theorizing locative technologies through philosophies of the virtual. Communication Theory, 21(1), 23–42.

Gazzard, A. (2011). Location, location, location: Collecting space and place in mobile media. Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, 17(4), 405–417.

Gemeinboeck, P. (2011). Urban fictions: a critical reflection on locative art and performative geographies. Digital Creativity, 22(3), 160–173.

Greenspan, B. (2011). The new place of reading: Locative media and the future of narrative. Digital Humanities Quarterly, 5(3). Retrieved from http://digitalhumanities.org/dhq/vol/5/3/000103/000103.html

Humphreys, L., & Liao, T. (2011). Mobile geotagging: Reexamining our interactions with urban space. Journal of Computer‐Mediated Communication, 16(3), 407–423. 

Lapenta, F. (2011). Geomedia: On location-based media, the changing status of collective image production and the emergence of social navigation systems. Visual Studies, 26(1), 14–24.

Les liens invisibles. (2011, April 24). Invisible pink unicorn: Art overtakes faith in imagination. Retrieved from http://www.lesliensinvisibles.org

Lindqvist, J., Cranshaw, J., Wiese, J., Hong, J., &  Zimmerman, J. (2011). I’m the mayor of my house. In Proceedings of the Conf. on Human Factors in Comp. Systems (p. 2409). Vancouver, BC: ACM.

Lovlie, A. S. (2011). Annotative locative media and G-P-S: Granularity, participation, and serendipity. Computers and Composition, 28(3), 246–254.

Microsoft. (2011). Location based services usage and perceptions survey presentation. Retrieved from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=0e52758c-3ab8-49b6-9d84-20cc53c2c308#QuickDetails

Mountain, D. (2011). From LBS to location-based learning: Challenges and opportunities for higher education. In D. Unwin, N. Tate, K. Foote, & D. DiBiase (Eds.), Teaching Geographic Information Science & Technology in Higher Education (p. 327–). Wiley

Schwartz, M. (2011, April). It’s good to be the mayor. MIT Technology Review. Retrieved from http://www.technologyreview.com/web/32403

Sutko, D., & de Souza e Silva, A. (2011). Location-aware mobile media and urban sociability. New Media & Society, 13(5), 807–823.

Zickuhr, K., & Smith, A. (2011). 28% of American adults use mobile and social location-based services. Pew Research Center. Retrieved from http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2011/Location.aspx


2012
Bilandzic, M. (2012). A review of locative media, mobile and embodied spatial interaction. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 70(1), 66–71.

Farman, J. (2012). Mobile interface theory: Embodied space and locative media. New York, NY: Routledge.

Farrelly, G. (2012). The role of location-based services in shaping sense of place. In Proceedings of the American Society for Information Science & Technology, 49(1), 1–3.

Frith, J. H. (2012). Constructing location, one check-in at a time: Examining the practices of Foursquare users (Doctoral dissertation). North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC.

Oie, K. V. (2012). Sensing the news: User experiences when reading locative news. Future Internet, 4(1), 161–178.

Smith, C. E. (2012). Checking in: A phenomenological study of active users of geolocational tagging services. Proceedings of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 49(1), 1–5.

Southern, J. (2012). Comobility: How proximity and distance travel together in locative media. Canadian Journal of Communication, 37(1), 75–91.

TNS. (2012). Two thirds of world’s mobile users signal they want to be found. London, UK. Retrieved from http://www.tnsglobal.com/press-release/two-thirds-world%E2%80%99s-mobile-users-signal-they-want-be-found

Tan, C.., Khan, M. S. Z., Silvadorai, T., Anwar, T., & Ramadass, S. (2012). A glimpse into the Research Space of LBS. Journal of Advances in Information Technology, 3(2), 91–106.

Tussyadiah, I. P., &  Zach, F. J. (2012). The role of geo-based technology in place experiences. Annals of Tourism Research, 39(2), 780–800.

Vasconcelos, M. A., Ricci, S., Almeida, J., Benevenuto, F., & Almeida, V. (2012). Tips, dones and todos: uncovering user profiles in Foursquare. In Proceedings of the 5th ACM Itnl. Conf. on Web Search & Data Mining (pp. 653–662). New York, NY: ACM.

Wilken, R., & Goggin, G. (Eds.). (2012). Mobile Technology and Place. New York, NY: Routledge.

Zeffiro, A. (2012). location of one’s own: A genealogy of locative media, A. Convergence, 18(3), 249–266.

Zickuhr, K. (2012). Three-quarters of smartphone owners use location-based services. Pew Research Center. Retrieved from http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2012/Location-based-services.aspx


2013
Boulton, A. (2013, January 1). Locative media, augmented realities and the ordinary American landscape (Doctoral dissertation). University of Kentucky, Lexington. Retrieved from http://uknowledge.uky.edu/geography_etds/5

Boulton, A., & Zook, M. (2013). Landscape, locative media, and the duplicity of code. In N. C. Johnson, R. H. Schein, & J. Winders (Eds.), The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Cultural Geography (pp. 437–451). Wiley.

Evans, L. (2013, March). Revealing place in the sprawl: A phenomenological investigation into location-based social networking (Doctoral dissertation). Swansea University, UK.

Farrelly, G. (2013). Putting locative technology in its sense of place. In 2013 IEEE International Symposium on Technology &Society, (pp. 237–242).

Frith, J. (2013). Turning life into a game: Foursquare, gamification, and personal mobility. Mobile Media & Communication, 1(2), 248–262.

Graaf, S. van der, & Vanobberghen, W. (2013). At home in Brussels: Professional mobility as a service. First Monday, 18(11). Retrieved from http://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/4951

Humphreys, L., & Liao, T. (2013). Foursquare and the parochialization of public space. First Monday, 18(11).

Lodi, S. (2013). Spatial art: An eruption of the digital into the physical. Leonardo Electronic Almanac, 19(2). Retrieved from http://www.leoalmanac.org/vol19-no2-spatial-art

Nitins, T., &; Collis, C. (2013). “Grounding the internet”: Categorising the geographies of locative media. Media International Australia incorporating Culture and Policy, (146), 69+.

Pinder, D. (2013). Dis-locative arts: mobile media and the politics of global positioning. Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies, 27(4), 523–541.

Schianchi, A. (2013). Location-based virtual interventions: transcending space through mobile augmented reality as a field for artistic creation. Leonardo Electronic Almanac, 19(2), 112–124.

Sharples, M., FitzGerald, E., Mulholland, P., & Jones, R. (2013). Weaving location and narrative for mobile guides. In C. Schrøder & K. Drotner (Eds.), Museum Communication & Social Media: The Connected Museum (pp. 177–196). New York, NY: Routledge. 

Zickuhr, K. (2013). Location-based services. Pew Research Center. Retrieved from http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2013/Location/Overview/Main-findings.aspx


2014
Evans, L. (2014). Being-towards the social: Mood and orientation to location-based social media, computational things and applications. New Media & Society.

Farrelly, G. Irreplaceable: The role of geotargetted place information in a location based service. Journal of Location Based Services.

Hjorth, L., & Pink, S. (2014). New visualities and the digital wayfarer: Reconceptualizing camera phone photography and locative media. Mobile Media & Communication, 2(1), 40–57.

Please let me know if I missed a key work...

On Location in Baltimore

I went to Baltimore to present my findings on location-based services at the conference for the American Society for Information Science and Technology (ASIS&T). I was only supposed to be there for a couple days but then Hurricane Sandy blew in and stranded me there for a few days. So the dull academic conference had more excitement than usual - and I got to explore more of Baltimore.

Before going to Baltimore I bought a new mobile device, a Galaxy Nexus, so that I could connect to WiFi as my old BlackBerry didn't allow this. I also thought I would just be getting a better device. So far my experience with the Nexus has been very disappointing, which I'll blog about later.

I've travelled to the United States before and used my mobile device, but the roaming fees were killer. So this trip was the first time I was able to use my device while exploring a new place.

Before going to Baltimore, I was looking for travel guides apps or content to access on my mobile. I couldn't find a Baltimore app - which I was surprised wasn't readily available. The only thing I could find on Baltimore for my mobile was an e-book by Lonely Planet. But at $10 it was too expensive for me.

Baltimore is making good use of Foursquare however (see Visit Baltimore for more on this). I was able to connect to visitor centre beforehand and receive recommendations on places to visit, which I saved in a list.

My new device did allow me to easily check-in on Foursquare at spots with Wi-Fi and to upload pictures. This functionality forms a travel log, which I really enjoyed. It also made it easy to share what I was up to with my wife at home (I'm not sure she liked knowing the fun places I was at while she was working and watching our kid at home) and with friends.

These check-ins allowed me to earn the quirky crab "Charm City" badge. These badges, as I have noted before, are surprisingly fun. I also got a Halloween badge on the trip for being out on Halloween night - instead of with my family as usual - due to Hurricane Sandy.

Facebook also has similar check-in functionality, which now makes Foursquare less necessary. But at this point, I don't want to share every check-in with my Facebook network, so I still find it useful to have a separate app.

Plus Foursquare, in theory, offers "tips" on places, but these user-generated suffer from the inevitable problems of spam, trolls, and overall noise. Most of the time that I wanted to access these tips in Baltimore they were populated by such useless content, that it rendered this feature pointless. If I knew of an app that had place info on Baltimore - both official and user-generated - I would have gladly used it as Foursquare is really problematic in this regard.

Another problem, is that as I relied on Wi-Fi, I could only check-in at major places that had a free Wi-Fi, so I wasn't able to get the tips when and where I often need them (e.g. deciding a restaurant) and I couldn't check in at all the fun, new places I wanted to.

My explorations of Baltimore, however, came to a halt when Hurricane Sandy came to town. Under such circumstances, I (and everyone else at the conference) wanted regular, real-time access to hyperlocal news and weather. I couldn't find a source for this during my short time in Baltimore (yes, I could have used Twitter but I find it too much of a firehose in these instances). I could find weather forecasts for the entire city, but not a minute-by-minute update on my particular part of the city. This was info I needed to know to determine if it was safe to venture out to get to the conference venue or back to my hotel (the conference went on during the storm). It was easier to just turn on a tv to a local station or ask somebody to get the best information.

The conference itself was a great opportunity to meet other people researching some interesting things. But unfortunately the sessions, I found, were rather uninspired. There was almost no sessions that discussed mobile or geographic information - so ASIS&T might not be the best place for this topic. Still, several people were interested in my research on mobiles, location-based services, and sense of place. So maybe I'll attend the next ASIS&T conference in Montreal - at least I could use my mobile device freely around the city and not have to worry about access points or roaming charges that otherwise greatly limit the technology's potential.

List of Location-Based Services

Update: This list was updated in a new post in April 2013, check out my new list.

Every couple weeks there are major changes to location-based service. Big players are out, new exciting apps come in, such as YWCA's Safety Siren and Swim Guide.

This month, it's the launch of Google+ Local (replacing Google Places). Lately, Banjo is also getting a heap of buzz. And it wasn't that long ago that Facebook bought Glancee.

Trying to keep track of these apps is rather futile under such conditions. But this list demonstrates the interesting ways location-based services (LBS) can be used and highlights their cool features, so I find it useful to keep updating it.

LBS are mobile device apps are able to able to determine users' physical location and then deliver content or experiences relevant to that location. The list below is categorized based on the application's leading purpose. However, many applications offer overlapping functionality.

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

Coordination, Communication, and Safety

• Crowdmap - open-source hosted solution to present location-specific crowdsourced info whether for activism, crises, or community projects
• Glympse - share your location with your contacts and specify the duration of visit
• 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."
• Moby - family member tracking and coordination
• Swim Guide - find nearby beaches, their safety status, and historical info
• YWCA Safety Siren - sends geolocation to emergency contacts, maps and directions to women's health clinics & resources, etc.

Commerce and Marketing

• MapDing- hyperlocal classifieds
• Placecast - service provider for brands to create geolocative mobile apps
• Priority Moments - proximity-based promotions & deals (only in London, UK)
• Realtor.ca - allows a user to search and receive info and pix on properties for sale in their vicinity or across Canada. Also offers proximity-based new listings and open houses (Rightmove has this for London, UK)
• Shopkick - "gives you rewards and offers simply for walking into stores, for scanning products, and for signing up friends"
• Shopcatch - location-based deals (Canadian company)
• Sociallight - service provider of geolocative apps
• Where - proximity-based promotions and deals
• YellowPages - detects your location or enter one to retrieve nearby businesses or people

Geoannotation

• Flickr - upload & search for georeferenced photos (also the ZoneTag tool from Yahoo appears to facilitate this)
• Geoloqi - "securely shar[e] location data, with features such as Geonotes, proximal notification, and sharing real-time GPS maps with friends."
• Historypin - enables users to add old photographs and text narratives to locations
• Instagram - popular photo-sharing app that allows georeferencing & sharing with foursquare
• Murmur - recorded oral histories of place, uses old cellphone tech as users see plaque and call specific number to hear targetted message
• Tagwhat - a "mobile encyclopedia of where you are... learn all about the world around you through interactive stories, videos, and photos"
• urbantag - tag and share lists of places with friends

Geosocial Networking

• Banjo - geosocial discovery - helps you find friends and people with similar interests near you
• BuzzE - proxmity friend finding and networking
• CheckIn+ - "all-in-one check-in app with augmented reality"
• Citysense - "real-time nightlife discovery and social navigation"
• Find My Friends - Apple-based friend finder
• Glassmap - friend tracking
• Google Latitude - "see where your friends are right now"
• Grindr and Blendr gay and straight friend and dating finder
• GyPsii - claims to be the world's largest geosocial network
• Highlight - "if your friends are nearby, it will notify you. If someone interesting crosses your path, it will tell you more about them"
• Hurricane Party - "helps friends find, share, and create spontaneous parties"
• Locle - geo-based friend finder
• Plazes - proxmity friend finding
• Skout -"find interesting singles close-by, strike up a conversation, maybe grab a drink or share a cup of coffee"

Local Discovery and Hyperlocal Information

• Around Me - find business near your location by biz type (similar for gas is GasBuddy)
• EveryTrail - "find and follow trips from other travelers"
• Geopedia - geotargetted Wikipedia entries - as also offered by WikiMe
• Google+ Local - combines Google's old Places listings with Zagat content and their Google+ social network features
• Junaio - AR-based vicinity info search, including business and attractions
• 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."
• Nearest Wiki - "AR view, with a synopsis against points of interest near you. Tapping on the place you wish to learn more about will give you more in-depth information on the location with images" content from Wikipedia
• Poynt - local search with proximity based reviews and mapping
• Star Chart- not exactly local, but uses your position and AR view to offer info on the heavens (Google offers similar functionality with their Google Sky Map service)
• Trover - "log remarkable places and things by snapping a photo and adding a quick note. When your friends and others pass by in the future they, too, can experience your discovery. Track the paths of friends and other interesting folks using our "follow" mode"
• Twitter Places - search for tweets within a specified area or tag places in your tweets
• Zeitag - historical photographs

Location-based Games

• Booyah - variety of games, including MyTown and Nightclub City
• 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."
• TapCity - "play with friends as you build and defend your very own city made up of your favorite places in the real world."

Navigation and Transportation

• BlackBerry Traffic by RIM uses GPS and customized maps to "establish your estimated time of arrival, 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."
• Nearest Subway - locates nearest subway station for New York, Chicago, Tokyo, Paris, Madrid, etc.
• Red Rocket - Toronto transit maps, routes, schedules, and nearest stop
• SitOrSquat - find nearby bathrooms with user reviews of their cleanliness by Charmin (genius marketing effort and I must say the most useful LBS to come along in ages!)
• Waze - "free, community-based traffic & navigation app"

Personal Efficiency and Organization

• Siri's Location Services - directions, recommendations, and personal efficiency services based on your location
• Task Ave - "location-aware reminders. Magically get alerts when you're nearby a task."
• Voxora - "voicemail for places", integrates with foursquare
Social Recommendation and Navigation


• DeHood - tap into neighbourhood buzz to find local businesses
• 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"
• Goby - suggests "fun things to do" based on your location or category (US only)
• Localmind - get answers about a specific place & real-time events by people who are there
• Urbanspoon - location and shaking based restaurant recommendations
• Urbantag - customize a list of favourite places and share with friends
• Wikitude - offers A.R., map, or list view of various types of proximal content (reviews, deals, and Wikipedia entries)
• Yelp and Citysearch - user-generated local reviews combined with local search engine

Travel and Place Guides

• Ask a Nomad - answered on your travel questions from fellow travellers
• Compass by Lonely Planet - "plot itineraries on dynamic, GPS-enabled map. Grab practical information and useful tips using our augmented reality camera view"
• Gogobot - travel tips from friends & other users
• MobilyTrip - social networking travel diary app
• mTrip - "automatically customizes your trip itinerary...guides you to each tourist attraction with directions, uses augmented reality to display tourist attractions in your area, and allows you to share your trip with personalized e-postcards"
• Ski & Snow Report - detailed ski info snow amounts, traffic volume, weather, lift times, etc)
• Ski Tracks - a GPS-enabled ski log of your routes, velocity, etc. with ability to geotag your pix
• TimeOut - travel guide apps for various tourist hot-spots
• TripAdvisor - get TripAdvisor's content on your mobile with proximity search option
• Tripbirds - travel tips from friends
• Trippy - get trip advice from your social network

Early and/or Deceased LBS:

• Brightkite, Centrl, Loopt, Rally Up, and Gowalla - pioneers in place check-ins(Facebook Places also tried this market and then soon closed)
• Dodgeball - SMS, pre-cursor to foursquare bought by Google and eventually shut down (see CNET eulogy)
• Dopplr - social travel planning (bought by Nokia and withered)
• Flook - offered user-generated geolocated information
• Glancee - friend finder based on proximity and social and personal commonalities (started in 2010, bought by Facebookand shut down)
• GeoSpot - started in 2005 and offered location-based information and search products
• 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"
• Fire Eagle and Friends on Fire - location sharing platform and API, by Yahoo
• Magitti - local recommendation, from PARC (see ReadWriteWeb article)
• Mscape - location-based gaming platform by HP
• Whrrl - users joined interest and brand based groups to get recommendations, tips, and deals

Please let me know of any corrections or ones you recommend be added to this list.

Putting Facebook and Flickr on the Map

Online user-generated maps aren't new - they exploded years ago when Google Maps released their API in 2005. I've used web-based mapping services to build my own maps for everything from the places I've visited via TripAdvisor to a list of my favourite bakeries via foursquare. 

Of the various user-generated maps, the type I most frequently use is maps of my photgraphs. For a long time, I've been adding the location of the photos I upload to Flickr and Facebook, but only recently started exploring the functionality.

Both Facebook and Flickr have really useful and fun photo map features, but neither meets all my needs completely. 

Facebook Maps
What I like about Facebook maps is that is easy to use. You don't need to know the address of a photo's location to map it. One can add the location by either dropping the photo on a map (a common enough feature) or enter its name and Facebook automatically will find matches (with good accuracy). One can also batch identify the location of photos based, which speeds up the process.  I also like how Facebook doesn't have a cap on how many photos one can upload without having to pay, unlike Flickr.

One of the most useful elements that Facebook's maps offer is that every location automatically links to a Facebook page with info about the location and if friends have been there. The content is mostly populated with Wikipedia entries, but I can see this growing into an interesting hub of place-info.

There are downsides to using Facebook maps. I don't like how when you click on a map to see a geolocated photo, it opens a small window that does not proportionality resize or centre the image, so inevitably the picture is displayed poorly. Facebook only has a map view, instead of also having an Earth view as most online maps now have.

The biggest problem with Facebook is critical mass. If my friends represent a snapshot of Facebook users, almost no one is mapping their photos (or other life-events as Facebook enables). I checked out my friends' maps and they are virtual deserts. It could be a great way to learn more about one's friends or gain some collective insight on places, but that value is only realized if enough people use it.

Also, although it is fairly easy to add location details to Facebook, it isn't easy to access this information. There needs to be a way to explore friends maps without having to go to each friend's page and click on their maps. It's social media, so the maps should enable collective display. Finally, the nature of Facebook - sharing info amongst friends vs. the world-at-large - means that it isn't feasible to share or export one's map or even photos.

Flickr Maps
I haven't used Flickr for years as I reached their 200 free images cap and don't want to pay.  But I wanted to experiment with their mapping feature so I deleted a bunch of old pictures and gave it a try - here's my Flickr map.

As far as I have found, Flickr has the best, publicly-viewable user photos mapping service (let me know if there are better ones out there). But I have had trouble with Flickr map being buggy and not displaying some geotagged photos and with it locking up frequently.

It is also way more difficult than other online map services to geotag a specific location. It doesn't accept the names of places (e.g. organization name or point of interest) or longitude and latitude coordinates, so one needs to know the specific street address to get the map to recognize the location.

Once mapped though, it is easy to view photos on a map. But Flickr doesn't allow one to customize their map beyond sorting by most recent or "interesting"  or searching. One can't have more than one map or customize their map by a specific set or some category.

I really like Flickr's Places feature.  Unlike Facebook Maps, the "Places" feature represents a vibrant social media effort. It displays the collective photos of a place either by recent or "interesting" (Flickr's secret sauce sorting algorithm). It also displays a map of the place that if clicked on opens up to display the geotagged photos charted on a map. Places also offers relevant groups and keywords.  Flickr Places' page for Fergus, Ontario is a good example.

Flickr doesn't enable their map to be embedded in another site, for that they do enable third-party apps.

iMapFlickr & MyPics Map
What Flickr lacks in extensive functionality, it makes up for fostering a wealth of third-party apps (via their "App Garden"). I found a couple, MyPicsMap and iMapFlickr that offer the map functionality that can be embedded in another site.

I tried out these apps on a new page of this blog, My Photos.  Both apps are free, offer some cool features, and are easy to use. They both allow one to display a Flickr collection or set overlaid on a map. Both use Google Maps and therefore offer zooming, scrolling, and map, satellite and terrain views.

On the top of the page, my travel photo highlights are displayed via MyPicsMap.  I like how it uses a thumbnail version of my photo overlaid on a map, so that one can quickly scan the world to see the global highlights.

MyPicsMap doesn't allow one to customize the default view and for some reason it chooses the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. It also seems to have faulty display as my images of India and most of Europe do not show up unless one zooms in.

iMapFlickr does allow one to customize the view of the map that is embedded and some other display options (such as height, colours, default map view, etc.).

Instead of offering a thumbnail of a photo overlaid on a map, iMapFlickr displays a flag and then has a scrolling photo viewer below the map (similar to Flickr's map). This isn't as much fun for worldwide photos, but works great when trying to display photos mapped in close proximity. I used iMapFlickr for my local photos (it's the map of Toronto, below my travel photos on My Photos page).


Facebook, Flickr, iMapFlickr, and MyPics Map offer some impressive functionality.  Facebook has the existing social network that has tremendous sharing potential and Facebook also integrates well with specific place pages.  Flickr's has great photos of most places and some cool third-party functionality such as the latter two mentioned. But none of these services offer the degree of customization and social integration I'd like.

Also, I'd love to see functionality that enables these to be converted into an individual location-based service. Still looking for someone to offer that service.

My Fondness and Frustration with foursquare

I've been using the mobile location and geosocial app foursquare soon after it was available in Canada. Having used it for a couple years now, I'm intimately familiar with it.

I love it - but it also pisses me off regularly!

They are just some inexcusable problems and limitations that should have been fixed by now. To be fair, foursquare does continue to offer product updates and their user base is growing despite challenges (see my prior post on this Have Check-ins Checked Out? ). Also, I use foursquare on an old device, so some of the problems could be the result of the limits of my device. I'll be upgrading to an Android device in September when my 3-year contract ends (no more contracts for me).

Still, I believe some of the problems I have are consistent across platforms and regardless they are so damn annoying they should be fixed!

I've been a loyal foursquare user, but if something that comes along to address the problems and/or satisfy my needs better, I'll be eager to leave and have less frustration in my life. Still, my beefs below can be taken as key areas for foursquare developers to improve to make me (and millions of others) even likelier to be a loyal user.

Before complaining, I'll offer what I think they do currently do right, so they can extend the positive.

Likes:

• Friends' recent check-ins at a glance on homepage
• Venue tips from friends and others (particularly when they are specific)
• Genuine rewards from businesses
• Self check-in (versus automated, uncontrolled by user check-ins as some apps offer)
• Ability to find cool new business
• Personalized recommendations of sites and businesses
• Badges (dorky, but surprisingly fun)
• Personal history list (it's like a handy travelogue)
• Curated, individual lists of recommended places to share
• Finding out a friend is at the same place as you at the same time (or at any time for unusual places)
• Only locative app that achieved a viable critical mass

 Dislikes:

• Too many clicks to check-in, they could easily eliminate one step to make the process faster
• Once check-in can't go back and edit - e.g. to add comment or post to Facebook
• Doesn't remember very well the places I frequent (to make repeat check-ins easy)
• Their "deals" feature while promising in theory has been completely useless for two years - first what they consider to be a "nearby deal" is often vast distances from where the user has check-in (really 10+ kilometers often - this in a major metropolitan area) and then the deals are often bogus, either a deal that everyone gets (e.g. a normal sale or something that is otherwise free or just incredibly crappy - they need quality control for this to have any value)
• Often doesn't pull up places actually closest to user (it seems that a simple sort of results by proximity should be easy, but it often doesn't work)
• Result often don't pull up popular venues, but even worse...
• When searching for a venue by typing it in, it will frequently says there is no place, but then once  I go to add it, the app then finds it in their database. So if it is there,why doesn't it come up at the first request or at least when searched?
• When adding a venue, the app stalls or often fails completely when trying to designate the venue's category (a required field)
• Search for venues must be incredible precise to work (does not allow short forms, synonyms, common misspellings, etc. - basis search features)
• Often says there are no places nearby and have to refresh 3-4 times for it to work (if this is a network access issue then the error message should be worded as such)
• Shows friends check-ins on homepage even if they haven't used the app in over a year - set a cut-off of a few weeks
• Brands (for example TV channels, celebrities, etc.) can be added as "friends", but they all appear to be doing a really boring and pointless job at using it
• "Mayorships" (i.e. title given to the person with the most check-ins at a place) are a neat idea but with so many users now they are essentially unattainable to the vast, vast majority of users and are thus pointless and frustrating - they need some other titles (Council member?) or method to determine mayors
• Should have a ratings button for venues rather than just comments as ratings features are more apt to be used and thus more reliable and useful

Problems that aren't foursquare's fault, but are still damn annoying:

• No indoor positioning
• No cell coverage in basements or urban canyons
• Most of my friends (and me) mostly check into really boring places (e.g. work) and don't add interesting commentary often enough
• Insanely-high roaming fees (on my trip last month to Hawaii, I paid over $40 recently to read a few emails and for several foursquare check-ins)

I think overall foursquare has been a compelling, fun, and useful product, so I'd like to see it improve and expand.  

Have Check-ins Checked Out?

This week the leading location-based service foursquare announced it had achieved 20 million users. Despite the milestone, critics were quick to point out that check-in services were dead.  Over the past few months other major check-in based services such as Loopt, Gowalla, BrightKite, and Facebook places have shut down or been acquired and closed.

This announcement spurred good commentary on whether foursquare in specific and location-based check-in services can survive. I've also found other good, older articles that address the topic:

• Just Checking...How Many of Foursquare's Reported 20 Million Users Are Active? - ReadWriteWeb
• Addressing Foursquare’s Engagement Problem - Street Fighter
• Foursquare May Not Be Toast Yet, But It's Browning At The Edges - Business Insider
• Is Foursquare's growth boxed in? - CNET
• Only 5% of Adults Use Location-Based Checkin Apps - Mashable
• Are Location-Based Services All Hype? - Mashable
• Foursquare Check-In Service Hits Big But Faces Challenges - ABC

(Between my post and these articles, we really exhausted the puns in the titles, eh?)

A main point from these articles is that the current usage of applications of foursquare aren't compelling or useful enough to either become mainstream or enduring.  There is no doubt that novelty usage of foursquare has been waning, as all novelty usage inevitably does. Also, the promotions offerred (at least in Canada) have not been compelling enough to encourage people to check-in regularly. So the most check-ins I notice from the bulk of usage is when someone is at a particularly high-status or unusual place.

But are check-ins dead as some have proclaimed?

The "death" of one thing or another makes great headlines, but of course it greatly over exaggerates. It's amazing what things continue long after they've been proclaimed death (for example, vinyl records). Even if the Chicken Littles mean only the mainstream use is dead, they still oversimplify. Often things evolve and metamorphosize, but don't really die per se. Also niche usages can remain strong and lucrative, if not particularly trendy or visible.

The recent launch of always-on location based social apps, such as Glancee and Highlight, provide an alternative to check-ins. But I'm not convinced that automated location identification services will be any more mainstream than self-based check-ins.

Check-ins are a compelling experience - particularly as I mentioned when at a cool place. I don't think they are sufficient to base long-term usage of an application. I think check-ins will survive as a cornerstone of social networking, but as part of other online services. Facebook, Google, and Twitter have experimented with this and eventually they'll get it right. Other check-in based location services will need to evolve - likely into greater social navigation, business directories, loyalty programs, games, and information discovery.

Location-based Services On the Road

Test Driving GPS Navigation Devices
I don't own or often even use a car, so I haven't had the opportunity to use in-car GPS navigation devices. As my research focuses on location-based services, it's easy to focus on the hype generated by mobile apps, and forget the popular workhouse of the LBS industry.

So on a recent trip to Hawaii and wanting to explore more of the islands than feasible with public transit or tour buses, I was eager to try out GPS devices when I rented a car.  I figured it would be a great way to try out this tech and make my travels easier. I sure got to know  more about the tech, but I think the GPS device resulted in more problems than help. Although I used the same product, from what I've read and encountered, it sounds like my experience is not atypical.

What I liked about the GPS navigation device:

• basic functionality is easy to use
• accuracy of positioning and its map interface
• we also got some unrequested but appreciated information on attractions near us that gave historical and cultural commentary (although we didn't want it again when we passed by it on the return trip)

What I didn't like:

• told us to turn the wrong way down one-way street and drive into an active volcano
• doesn't recognize unofficial roads (e.g. national parks, mall parking lots, etc)
• voice is often indecipherable
• directions not given in enough advance (e.g. tells us to turn while almost parallel to the road)
• not offer enough detail if zoom out (e.g. place names and roads)
• doesn't remember destination if turn device off (e.g. to get something to eat)
• can't add sub-destinations (e.g. post office, restaurant)
• location finder very limited and many attractions and long-term businesses not listed
• ultimately it was wrong or bizarre so many times that I just couldn't trust it

Some of these problems could be rectified by gaining familiarity with the interface and features of the device or possibly with another product.

Overall, I was disappointed with GPS navigation device for two main reasons: 1) it doesn't replace trip planning and way finding with print maps and 2) it isn't easy to use enough to use that a driver could safely do it on their own.

We had similar problems with other sources of automated way-finding on the trip. We also printed off AAA/CAA customized maps and detailed driving directions ("Triptiks") from their website. The TripTiks seemed like they would get one from point A to point B but they took bizarre and difficult routes. Without any explanations provided for why a seemingly odd route was chosen or even if there was a reason, their routes seemed unnecessary complicated and longer.

I've also encountered the same problem with Google Maps. For example, when trying to get directions to my place, it has one going blocks out of the way to avoid a left turn (perfectly legal and easy).

So my hopes of an automated solution to replace the dreaded navigation seems a ways off.

Smartphone LBS On the Road
I did find it enjoyable and useful to use LBS on my smartphone while on my travels. I've always feared the roaming charges of my mobile carrier plan, so I've never used Foursquare (my LBS of choice) outside of my home town.

I checked into a bunch of different places and looked up reviews and deals in various places. I also posted my location and comments from foursquare to my Facebook account.

It was great to share the main sites and my experiences - more so since the places were so new and different (it also helped me get a bunch of badges, not that I care about such gimmicks - okay, I kinda do).  Looking back on my check-ins, it was a great travel log.

I decided to experiment this trip and pay the costs to try things out, but my bill hasn't yet come, so my fondness may soon enough turn sour.

Geosocial Networking: Check Out What's Happening With Check-ins

This week, I had the opportunity to guest lecture for a great class on social networking at the University of Toronto. I spoke about how new technologies were facilitating geosocial networking, that is people connecting and sharing place-based experiences via their mobile device.

I've been studying this for over two years and I'm an avid user of the ultimate geosocial app, foursquare. So I was excited to speak on this topic.

I'll give a brief summary of the main themes I addressed in my presentation.

Introduction
I wanted to begin the presentation by having the class get a Swarm badge (earned for a mass check-ins at a location) from foursquare. But problems with the tech highlight that this field is not mature and profound user issues remain. For one, the lecture hall was in a basement of UofT and my network connectivity was the pits.  When I finally could connect to foursquare, the app would not accurately find my location (it pulled up locations within an approximate 20 block radius).  So I had to do a manual search for the building, but foursquare could not find it by the common, short version of the name of Alumni Hall. I had to exit the building to find out the proper name of the building and then enter it in full, i.e. Muzzo Family Alumni Hall.  Finally, once I was able to check-in (15 minutes later) I asked the class of over 50 people how many of them had foursquare and only a handful did. Surprisingly, few of the class appeared to be using any geosocial apps. Considering that according to Pew only 4% of US people were using foursquare or other similar geosocial apps, the low uptake shouldn't be that surprising except that young people have the highest rate of adoption of such mobile and social tech.

Courtesy of Agent-X Comics ( http://www.agent-x.com.au)

Terminology
I've previously blogged about the core concepts and terms that enable geosocial and location-based apps, so I won't go over them in detail. But here are the need-to-know terms:

• Location-based services (LBS) - mobile apps that target content and interfaces based on a user's location
• Geolocation - identification of a user's physical location using positioning tech, such as GPS or cell signal triangulation, user self-selection, or a combination of these
• Geocoding - digital content with referenced geographic location appended to it
• Geotagging - user-based metadata appended to digital content, often in the form of folksonomies

Geosocial Media 

Most of the forms of digital content that people create and connect over on the Web, known as social objects, are also used for geosocial networking. The most common geosocial media are:

• Reviews, tips, & ratings (e.g. of restaurants, shops, attractions)
• User profiles
• Photographs & videos
• Games
• Status updates & comments
• Participatory maps

Major Players in the Field

Lately, every digital media company is offering geolocative and geosocial functionalities to their services. I've been keeping track of some of the most popular and innovative apps on this blog through my ongoing List of Location-based services.  But here are the major ones:

• foursquare (the most used of "pure" LBSs) 
• Twitter (although this aspect is seldom used)
• Flickr (possibly the largest source of geocoded data due to automatic setting)
• Loopt
• Google Latitude

Screenshot of foursquare, showing user tips of nearby businesses.

Social Coordination

From my research, I've found that one of main usages of LBS are for social coordination, that is the ability to find and meet-up with friends or others.  Social coordination takes the following forms:

• Friends - these apps make it easy to see your friends whereabouts through map-based interfaces, status updates, and place-based check-ins and have impromptu or serendipitous encounters 
• Strangers - some apps facilitate strangers connecting over proximity and shared interests or dating status
• Emergency situations - geolocative apps have been used in disaster situations to coordinate rescue, aid, and news- gathering.  Also, a new app from Toronto, Guardly, makes it very easy for people to alert family, close contacts, and police in personal emergency situations
• Politics - LBS has been used to coordinate protests (e.g. Occupy and G20) and poll monitoring

Social Cohesion

I call this outcome of geosocial media place-based bonding.  Mass check-ins and sharing of place information and tips helps friends and strangers connect. This can be related to an en masse event, such as I observed for Toronto's Pride Festival and Canada Day celebrations, or singular experiences of readings others stories and experiences with a place that they have shared via LBS.

Identity Projection

I also have a subtitle for this, it's "Why no one checks into Burger King or Walmart".  During my research I found that, for the most part, people weren't check-in and sharing the places they are most apt to predominantly frequent, yet they eagerly shared trendy restaurants, clubs, travel destinations, or other seemingly impressive locales. As with other media, people deliberately use the tech to project their desired image of themselves.

Giving Voice

The academic subtitle for this would be "circumventing the hegemony" but no one other than journal reviewers wants to see this. Geosocial media are more than just user-generated content, they provide an effective voice to people with various positive outcomes:

• Consumer justice and protection - people's reviews and ratings of places are accessed via LBS are easy to access when and where needed
• Making visible hidden histories - people can annotate their own cities (I use the example here of how the power-that-be in Toronto decided to erect a prominent shrine to Winston Churchill at our City Hall, complete with a huge statue and ample plaques, despite the fact that Churchill had no significant connection to the city or even Canada. What the City has decided not to share is our own history, such as our first mayor and democratic revolutionary William Lyon Mackenzie, that the first China Town was razed to put up our new City Hall, or that it's the location of numerous weddings (including a stranger's that I was spontaneously asked to witness). All this can now be readily shared and virtually attached to the place - despite what is sanctioned by officials.
• Protests - place has been used to extend the visibility and power of protests, such as during Occupy, G2) protests and the famous Tiananmen Square anniversary protests via foursquare that resulting in China banning it.

 G20 protesters checked in here in solidarity of detainees.

This location was mysteriously removed from foursquare's database shortly afterwards.

Privacy & Surveillance

I think too much is made of this issue, as most of the apps are getting better with their privacy settings and users need to take the time to read privacy policy and set their options appropriately. However, this was raised in the class and amongst my research participants as a major barrier to greater adoption.  Yet, at the same time it is the ability of this tech to facilitate friend tracking, a.k.a. participatory surveillance, that help makes it so popular.

Courtesy of Agent-X Comics ( http://www.agent-x.com.au)

Advertising 

Most of the geosocial networking and LBS apps are commercial. So they have to make money somehow, even though most users don't often consider this. Advertising and marketing are the only current viable models.  It's great when businesses get it right, such as a local gelato place that recognized via Fourquare that I was a frequent customer and gave me a free gelato. It's less great when I got an ad for a "deal nearby" for a plus-sized women's clothing store. 

Explorations 

These apps are helping us discover new things about our friends and new information about the place we encounter. This is both possible positive and negative outcomes. People appreciate the advice of others and it is a great way to make and decisions about the world. Yet, in an amazing essay by Mitchell Schwarzer, A Sense of Place: A World of Augmented Reality , having our world always curated for us by others may prevent us forming our own thoughts and experiences. I experienced this moments before my lecture as I checked-in to a nearby independent cafe. I thought it seemed great (it had a huge Klimt mural after all), but when I read the reviews I noticed that people had pointed out legitimate problems with the cafe that I had overlooked. I was enjoying myself there until the communal experience changed it for the worse.

Hybrid Space

One of the continual outcomes of this new technology and our geosocial networking is the changing nature of place.  Place is no longer a backdrop to our media usage and everyday activities. Place is now merging with technology and us to create new hybrid spaces.  Dana Cuff calls these new types of places, cyburgs. The resulting changes to our relationships will be fascinating to watch and experience.

For more information and applications on this topic, check out my Delicious Stack on Geosocial Networking.

List of Location-Based Services

Update: This list was updated in a new post in April 2013, check out my new list.