Where20 OReilly Repo..

Where 2.0: The O’Reilly Radar Report
By Andrew Turner and Brady Forrest
The State of Geo
Services that harvest and analyze geographic information have become important parts of
the everyday lives of millions of people. Mobile devices know where we are, provide
directions, and point us to local sites and services. Rapid advances in the availability of
geographic data and technologies are fueling new markets for businesses and services.
The act of finding places online is so common that “MapQuest” has become a verb –and
it’s been years since MapQuest defined the cutting edge in web-based location services.
Sales of Personal Navigation Devices (PNDs), such as those used in automobiles, rose
from 11.9 million in 2006 to 33.9 million in 2007. Nokia expects to sell 35 million GPScapable phones that can also use cell tower and WiFi geolocation, in 2008.
A number of trends are driving towards a new paradigm we’re calling Where 2.0:
•
•
•
Web 2.0, with its wikis and blogs, is empowering millions to publish and
contribute content to open services;
More geo data is easily available and freely disseminated; and
Mobile devices are increasingly equipped with wireless internet connectivity and
GPS. We can connect from almost anywhere.
People are rapidly exchanging more data, geographic and otherwise, while traveling and
in a variety of places in ways they could not before. They can sift through masses of
information to discover what is pertinent to them from wherever they are.
SUBHEAD The GeoWeb and the GeoStack
The development of Where 2.0 has parallels to the shift from dotcom-era Web 1.0 to the
current Web 2.0. In the geo space, individual documents, data sets, and applications that
are created by individuals or single organizations have given way to a new model of
loosely coupled tools and services that are linked to form a broader interchange of
information and capabilities. Like Web 2.0, Where 2.0 is about harnessing collective
intelligence and personalization.
The GeoStack is the set of tools (software and websites) that create and use the data of
the GeoWeb. It follows information from its creation through publication, sharing,
aggregation, and, finally, consumption. By understanding the components of the chain,
individuals and vendors can determine where to place their services, identify potential
partners, and develop compatible systems that can enhance their offerings.
In the GeoStack, people can use
placemarking sites such as Platial and
Google MyMaps to geotag locations or
media-sharing sites such as Flickr to
publish content that includes geographic
data. Local news sites such as EveryBlock
or general geospatial and collaborative
mapping services such as Mapufacture and
Microsoft Live Maps aggregate this
content. (Footnote disclosure: Andrew
Turner, an author of this report, is a
founder of Mapufacture.) The aggregated
content can then be displayed in mobile
phones or navigation devices, or embedded
as map widgets on web pages.
This concept of a stack of services has a clear parallel in the non-geo world. Consider
how the blogging ecosystem works. Blogger, WordPress, and many other similar tools let
individuals create and post content on the web with relative ease. FeedBurner provides
additional value by hosting and analyzing blog feeds. Technorati aggregates these feeds
and provides filtering and search. NetNewsWire, Google Reader, and many others make
it easy to read and manage these aggregated feeds.
Industry and community standards hold together the layers of the blogging stack.
Because every blog is written in HTML, the basic language of web pages, and distributed
through RSS or Atom, the common formats for creating blog feeds, vendors can build
toolsets that work in a wide variety of clients: web browsers, mobile phones, even
desktop applications. Where 2.0 has similar protocols: KML (Keyhole Markup
Language, named after the company that developed what is now Google Earth) and
GeoRSS are two of the most common that are being used by online services. These open
standards let businesses readily integrate their offerings into existing consumer services
and devices, lowering barriers to entry and risk while increasing overall value. This
model – individual components leveraging other systems to provide additional value – is
the key to Where 2.0. This report explains the details and opportunities for each of these
components.
SUBHEAD GeoData
In the world of geographic information, the value has long belonged to those companies
that control the underlying data. Tele Atlas [http://teleatlas.com] and NAVTEQ
[http://navteq.com] are the dominant companies in this field and are responsible for much
of the consumer-grade data used for navigation devices and electronic maps. (Look at the
fine-print copyright information at the bottom of popular web mapping sites and you are
likely to find one or the other.) There are similar large data vendors of remote, or
satellite, imagery, such as Digital Globe [http://digitalglobe.com] or GeoEye
[http://geoeye.com] and a variety of other infrastructure, business, and sensor information
suppliers.
Tele Atlas and NAVTEQ are growing
fast. Both are public companies-NAVTEQ is listed on the NYSE; Tele
Atlas is listed on the Frankfurt and
Euronext exchanges.* While Tele Atlas
reported positive Earnings Before
Interest and Taxes (EBIT) only over
the last year, Navteq averaged $142M
in EBIT over the last five years, and
grew an average of 37 percent annually
in that time. The value of geo data became more apparent when both companies were put
in play last year, Nokia acquired NAVTEQ and TomTom acquired Tele Atlas.
Geodata underlies almost every geospatial application. Any device, tool, application, or
service needs to acquire data and the tools that manipulate the data. While the industry is
dominated by a few well-established data providers, opportunities exist for other data
providers in niche markets not served by the large vendors – and for additional tools that
integrate these datasets into devices and applications.
The increasing demand for
geographic data has led to increased
data acquisition costs. Most of the
major players gather their geo data
by having drivers in specially
outfitted vans travel the roads they
want to map. Drivers collect
information and add what they
observe to a central database.
Collecting data this way is slow and
expensive -- and the data can
quickly get out of date. To cover the
cost of gathering data, the
incumbents make their data
available only with restrictive and
expensive licensing terms.
At the same time that demand is growing for geospatial data, new mechanisms for
collecting data and new sources of data are becoming available.
[footnote at the bottom of this page] * Earnings are reported differently for each company
as they operate in different countries and report in different currencies: Navteq in dollars
and Tele Atlas in euros. Both report Earnings Before Interest and Taxes (EBIT), though,
so for consistency we focus on those numbers:
EBIT = Operating Revenue – Operating Expenses + Non-operating Income
For Tele Atlas, we used the average exchange rate for the each year to convert the
reported EBIT from euros to dollars.
GeoData Trend: Active and Passive data collection
Organizations using geospatial data can avoid the high cost and slow update cycles of the
mapping companies by collecting their own information, often by enlisting their
customers. Data can be collected actively or passively. Active data collection
mechanisms let users explicitly enter and validate information. For example, both
Yahoo’s and Google’s local search let individuals update business listings. Passive data
collection captures user actions and behaviors to infer intent and interest. Web analytic
programs track what pages and ads are clicked and how much time is spent viewing these
page to determine what users find most interesting. People are not explicitly entering this
data, but they do provide useful information with their actions and attention.
MapQuest [http://mapquest.com] and other mapping systems historically have provided
mechanisms for users to contribute updates to outdated or incorrect information.
However, this feature was hard to find, hard to use, and unlikely to generate feedback.
One effort to close the user feedback loop so customers can report errors when they
encounter them is TomTom's [http://tomtom.com] MapShare system. It is built into
TomTom’s personal navigational devices so customers can actively provide error
correction and data feedback while in their vehicle by using a simple notification
interface. Someone can hit one button to notify TomTom that the displayed route or
roadway is incorrect.
By contrast, Dash Navigation [http://dash.net] employs a system that continually
monitors and collects driving routes from its internet-connected Personal Navigation
Devices (PNDs), or GPS, to improve its data. Dash can identify places where multiple
driver routes diverge from expected roadways, indicating an error in the road data.
Subsequently, Dash can update its own data and forward the new route information to
data collection companies like Tele Atlas that can then update databases. Dash is new to
the market and we will be following their progress.
GeoData Trend: Merging Data Collection with Data Maintenance
By collecting geodata from customers, device manufacturers such as TomTom and Dash
Navigation improve their value proposition by providing more accurate and timely
information. In the process of becoming part of the geodata value chain, the hardware
manufacturers have to handle large amounts of data they used to rely on third parties to
provide and process. In Dash’s case, the company was built from the start with handling
geodata in mind. TomTom chose to acquire Tele Atlas, a move that combines the
traditional, manual method of collecting data with the Where 2.0 method of collecting
user generated geodata.
Similarly, Nokia has purchased the other major data provider, NAVTEQ. This merger
has the same benefits as the TomTom and Tele Atlas deal, but with potentially greater
implications. Emerging markets in Asia and Africa – where Nokia has a high handset
market share – have an abundance of mobile devices and a lack of quality geospatial data.
By acquiring NAVTEQ, Nokia can dramatically expand its data holdings, which it can
then provide to its mobile devices and sell to other vendors.
Even as these acquisitions result in two geodata powerhouses that combine data and
devices, there is still room for additional players who can address unserviced niche
markets, specialized consumer needs and new channels for commercializing geodata. A
growing number of open data projects attempt to address some of these new markets by
building open datasets and the accompanying tools and communities that extend and
cultivate the quality of their geodata.
GeoData Trend: Open Data
Open data serves as a basis for the road data in many countries, especially in the U.S. The
U.S Census TIGER/Line data is the open geospatial database of roads, demographics,
and other information. In the past, this data was aggregated, validated, and resold to
businesses. More recently, this data has been normalized, integrated into commercial and
web-based tools, and offered for free under open licenses.
The value proposition of open geodata is the same as that for open source software.
Individuals and vendors contribute to the broad body of tools and data, and then all reap
the benefits. The data is typically offered under open licensing terms, and in nonproprietary, common data formats. One of the best examples of a project that enhances
the value of publicly available data is GeoNames [http://geonames.org], which has
compiled the databases of location names from many government and public data
sources. Atop that, it has built easy-to-use geocoding and lookup web services, which
identify nearby intersections from GPS coordinates, location hierarchy, and local
Wikipedia pages. A particularly interesting service is exonym and endonym lookup.
Exonyms are the names that a place is referred to by those not native to the region, and
endonyms are the names used by the natives (e.g. China is an exonym and Zhongguo is
the endonym). This service is useful for businesses that want to provide better local
search by targeting multiple names for a businesses service area.
Caption: GeoNames aggregates free location name databases and user contributed data
and offers both free and commercial services
Created as a free, community-supported project, GeoNames regularly serves more than
10 million requests per day. Due to this demand, it has begun limiting the amount of free
services to approximately 50,000 requests and is now offering paid service-level
agreements for high-volume access to its service. Customers include Microsoft, ESRI,
Adidas, Nike, and the BBC.
GeoData Trend: User-Generated Geospatial Information
In most web-based geo sites, user feedback just notifies those who maintain the data, who
then must obtain and validate the new information. Some companies, however, are
providing tools for users to contribute full updates and data without company officials
getting in the way or having to do the work. Like active and passive data collection, usergenerated geospatial information can be explicitly delivered or it can be collected
information based on observation of a user’s behavior or ancillary data.
Extracting passively collected information can provide insightful and powerful datasets.
An example of this is geotagging, or locating in the real world, photographs and videos
that are uploaded to Flickr [http://flickr.com]. There are currently more than 72 million
geotagged photos and videos that also include tags, or arbitrary attributes, of photos such
as the name of the location, weather, photo content, and more. The result is the ability to
mine information such as place names.
Caption: User-generated tags of photos demonstrates the power of collective intelligence
User-generated geospatial data is emerging in greater quantity and quality to address
other issues. To illustrate this, let us look at the worldwide coverage of map and
geocoding data as provided by Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft. As the maps show, there
are many countries with little or no coverage, including large regions of Africa and Asia
that present huge potential for gathering and offering geodata. [no legend on maps, and
the maps should be larger]
Caption: Availability of map data from Google, MapQuest, and Microsoft
GeoData Trend: Open*.org
As users get a taste of geo-based services, they often want more. Several projects are
emerging that allow people to generate and analyze the geospatial information they want.
One successful project that provides tools for user-generated geospatial information is
OpenStreetMap (OSM) [http://openstreetmap.org]. The goal of OpenStreetMap is to
build a free and open database of the world--a Wikipedia for roads. A group of software
developers and "geohackers" launched OSM to address the high costs and restrictive
licensing of geodata in the U.K. Contributors use GPS units and open-source software to
collect, annotate, and contribute road data. As the project grew, it extended into gathering
points of interest and other geospatial data such as trails, paths, land-use, and now even
remote imagery as part of the OpenAerialMap project [http://openaerialmap.org].
Caption: OpenStreetMap is building a free and open map of the world from usercontributed data and open databases.
To see the potential of user-contributed geographic data, look at the city of Khartoum,
Sudan. Comparing Google Maps (which uses NAVTEQ data) and OpenStreetMap makes
it apparent that those on the ground want--and are collecting—the local geospatial
information they need.
Caption: Comparison of the map data for Khartoum in Google Maps (left) and
OpenStreetMap (right)
Since its inception in 2004, OpenStreetMap has grown to more than 35,000 contributing
users, 240 million nodes, and 19 million ways, or paths. This exponential growth and
coverage of areas has increased corporate and community contributions. Automotive
Navigation Data (AND), a Dutch data company, donated its entire Netherlands and China
data sets to the project. AND saw decreased value in owning the data. Maarten Oldenhof,
CEO of AND, has noted that an incomplete map creates a gap: “With the help of the
community, AND aims to close this gap and be able to a deliver a map that is 100 %
correct.”
Caption: OpenStreetMap is experiencing exponential growth of contributing users and
data – a trend similar to that of the original growth of Wikipedia.
Other examples of open data projects gathering information in specific domains:
OpenAerialMap [http://openaerialmap.org] compiles remote and satellite imagery, as
well as open tools for manipulating aerial photographs that can be used to quickly create
up-to-date, high-resolution, and free images.
Caption: OpenAerialMap is another project that is combining available data, remote
imagery, user-contributed data, and building tools to freely use this data in third-party
applications.
OpenCellId [http://www.opencellid.org/] and WiGLE [http://wigle.net] are two databases
that gather cell-tower locations and WiFi locations to create geolocation tools. They
serve as crowd-sourced alternatives to Skyhook Wireless's geo-located Wi-Fi database.
Navizon [http://navizon.com] is trying out various ways to encourage people to contribute
to its geolocation database, among them monetary payments and credits that can be
redeemed for querying the Navizon database.
OpenStreetMap and other communities have built tools and applications for using and
repurposing this open data inside applications. Individuals can manipulate the underlying
data to better display different types of information. For example, typical maps are
designed to be automobile-centric. They focus on highways and roadways, rather than
hiking paths or parks. Projects such as OSM Cycle Map
[http://www.gravitystorm.co.uk/osm/] use OpenStreetMap data to render cyclist-centric
maps, identifying bike-unfriendly highways as hazards and giving design priority to
pathways and cycle routes.
Other businesses could use this data for addressing other specialized needs, or niche
markets and domains. Recently, a new startup by the founders of OpenStreetMap,
CloudMade [http://cloudmade.com], announced €2.4 million [MARK: NOT SURE
HOW TO RENDER THE EURO SYMBOL RM added euro symbol] (roughly $3.7
USD) in funding to cultivate open data sources like OpenStreetMap and provide
professional services such as packaging and support to third-party users of geospatial
data.
These open data sources are challenging the traditional geospatial companies that have
historically provided geo datasets. But user-generated data is not necessarily open
geodata. The contributed information can be kept private and merged into qualified data
sets or packaged and sold. User-generated data is compelling because it offers data where
none currently exists. By harnessing the collective power of distributed customers,
companies can gather information of value to those same customers.
Projects like OpenStreetMap demonstrate that users will contribute geographic data
when they need it and it is unavailable. By providing tools and a community, these
projects leverage individual users to create and maintain quality datasets.
SUBHEAD Emergence of online geographic data: GeoWeb
Much as the web opened up with users sharing information via text and images, the
GeoWeb has emerged as a complex interconnecting network of discoverable geospatial
documents and databases. Easy-to-use publishing and hosting tools, open data formats,
and widely available fast connectivity make sharing geodata and community building
possible.
Open Formats and Open Data
The examples above focus primarily on high-quality static geospatial data. However, the
emerging GeoWeb offers more dynamic and richer data. In the past year it has become
searchable in Google's and Microsoft's search engines making it easy for users to
discover new content. In addition, much of this web of geographic data is viewable on a
map, providing a cartographic context that allows users to easily see the location of
results. The GeoWeb is not just about finding nearby restaurants—it also allows users to
share ephemeral data, tracking events across time and location, as in the map below that
describes changing surf conditions.
Caption: An example of searching user-generated geotagged content using place names
What has changed? Companies had attempted to build broad geographic search but failed
to provide compelling data and information. In response, new community projects and
companies have promoted the development and use of open and simple geodata formats,
primarily KML and GeoRSS, that provide more useful search results.
KML, created by Keyhole (since acquired by Google) is a lightweight format to style and
visualize geospatial information. Its use in GoogleEarth, the popular 3D geo-viewer,
accelerated its acceptance.
GeoRSS is a community-driven standard that first addressed the need for simple
geospatial markup by adding location context to the popular RSS and Atom syndication
formats. Many applications and sites already share their content using one of these
formats, and GeoRSS is a simple way to add spatial geometry for articles, data, and
media. For example, Upcoming.org outputs GeoRSS from its database of local events.
The format offers businesses a low-risk, low-cost means to easily share geospatial
information – information that can increase their user base and raise their search engine
rankings.
These new formats have quickly become core to the geospatial web, with the help of the
Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC), a geo-standards body. GeoRSS became a
recognized OGC best practice in September 2006 and KML became an OGC standard in
April 2008. With these formats supported by an independent, industry-accepted standards
organization, there is little worry that licensing or version conflicts will negatively impact
future users of these formats. In one year, online KML documents in Google’s index
grew from approximately 170,000 KML documents to more than four million, and KML
and GeoRSS are now supported in Microsoft's Virtual Earth and Live Local. [ROGER
NOTE FOR BRADY/ANDREW TO CONSIDER: I may be the only one geeky
enough to care, but I would like to samples of the two formats, they are simple
enough that seeing an example may help demystify the formats for technically
minded but otherwise casual readers, Google’s tutorial:
http://code.google.com/apis/kml/documentation/kml_tut.html has good, simple
examples that can be annotated]
Content creation verticals like WikiTravel, Flickr, and YouTube all provide for
geotagging their content and aggregating this information using open formats such as
KML and GeoRSS. This encourages developers and businesses to incorporate these data
sets, further promoting the original source's brand and repuation. It’s a clear example of
how collective intelligence and network effects help vendors and users by improving
offerings.
Caption: Sites such as Flickr and EveryTrail provide KML or GeoRSS links of geotagged
photos and walks
Caption: An approximation of Google’s index of GeoWeb documents
New tools translate data currently stored in proprietary or complex formats into KML and
GeoRSS. EveryBlock [http://everyblock.com] works with local governments and
municipalities to put their data online and share it with the GeoWeb. Both Mapufacture
and FortiusOne’s GeoCommons [http://geocommons.org] provide web-based tools for
conversion, utilization, and analysis of GeoWeb documents and formats.
Caption: FortiusOne’s GeoCommons and Mapufacture provide tools for hosting, sharing,
and utilizing data from the GeoWeb
Businesses are building products and services atop this data and selling them. WikiTravel
Press [http:// wikitravelpress.com] recently published a guidebook to Paris based on free
data from the WikiTravel portal and OpenStreetMap geographic data for its maps
[http://www.wikitravelpress.com/books/en/Paris/], and manufactured through the ondemand print service Lulu [http://lulu.com].
When applications are architected to share their data using lightweight, open geospatial
formats and tools, they are more valuable to individuals and businesses.
SUBHEAD: Local Search
With more and more geographic data coming online through companies and
organizations, there is an increasing need for geographic search interfaces. Looking at the
major search sites reveals several interesting trends related to local search.
Over the past year U.S. traffic (based on Hitwise data) at Google Maps and local business
review site Yelp [http://yelp.com] grew more than 100%, local.com grew 62%, and
Windows Live local and yellowbook.com grew around 20%. Yahoo! Local declined
slightly (-7%) over the past year. Local search is growing at a faster rate than general
search: An August 2007 study by comScore Networks estimated that local search grew
24% and general search grew 14% from the previous year.
ComScore also found that 82% of those who used local search sites followed up in some
way: an in-store visit, a phone call, an email, or a purchase. An October 2007 survey
conducted by Nielsen and WebVisible found that 86% of respondents used the Internet to
find a local business - 16% more than the previous year. Of the respondents engaged in
finding local businesses, 74% used search engines and 50% used internet yellow pages.
Consumers are clearly finding value in the geo data that enriches local search.
SUBHEAD Mobile Devices
Local information is a key product area for mobile devices. Restaurant databases, travel
information, and stored maps are just a few applications that have long been offered to
mobile users. Recent technology and market shifts let applications provide more
compelling user experiences and open up new opportunities for businesses.
The market penetration of mobile phones continues to grow throughout the world,
especially in developing economies. Gartner publishes a quarterly study on global sales
of mobile phones. Some highlights from its Q4 2007 study:
•
Asia/Pacific: 112M mobile devices sold, 9.6% higher than the previous quarter.
•
Africa + Eastern Europe + Middle East: 61.8M mobiles devices sold. Mobile
service subscriptions grew strongly in Nigeria, Egypt, and South Africa.
•
Latin America: 38.8M mobile devices sold in Q4-2007, 12.5% higher than the
year-ago quarter.
•
Western Europe: 55M mobile devices sold, 2% higher than Q4 2006. Music
players, cameras, and GPS were popular features.
•
North America: 49M mobile devices sold, 9.2% higher than Q4 2006
Source: Dataquest Insight: Market Share for Mobile Devices, 4Q07 and 2007
[Talk about cell vis-à-vis internet-enabled mobile devices, and how that matters for
geo?] A key feature of the newest wave of mobile phones and other mobile devices is
wireless internet connectivity, typically via WiFi. Internet connectivity provides easy
mobile access to the growing mass of local geodata, an opportunity for mobile device
applications to add geo-aware functionality, and, for clever applications of cell network
and WiFi based triangulation to provide geo-location services to the device.
Geolocation
To date, most devices and applications require users to manually enter their current
location. Unfortunately many travelers wanting to use geodata-based services may not
know their specific location information, especially zip code, a key data point for popular
applications such as restaurant and hotel search.
Increasingly, mobile devices include geolocation technology to automatically determine
location. For example, at the Consumer Electronics Show this year, most new phones
from major vendors included GPS. In addition, Google Maps for Mobile introduced builtin cell-tower geolocation that lets phones automatically provide localized search. The
newest version of the Apple iPhone offers geolocation using cell-tower, WiFi, and GPS
signals.
GPS and geolocation are not the same. GPS is the acronym for the Global Positioning
System of 24 medium-altitude earth orbiting satellites operated by the U.S. Defense
Department that provide geolocation services for earthbound devices. GPS has become a
sort of proprietary eponym for geolocation functionality. Consumers clamor for “GPS” in
their devices, when in reality they just want their devices to be geolocatable. This is an
important distinction, since it is possible to geolocate devices using a variety of
mechanisms, depending on the typical application space of the device. For example, since
GPS requires clear view of the sky (for line-of-sight to GPS satellites), they work well in
open areas. But in urban canyons, or indoors, they have poor accuracy at best. For this
reason, technologies that geolocate users based on cell towers and WiFi are particularly
useful in urban areas, where their signals are abundant. [LET’S MAKE THIS
PARAGRAPH A SIDEBAR-JG]
GPS devices typically require long acquisition times (an average of 45 seconds) and drain
battery power (it takes energy to communicate with multiple satellite orbiting 16,500
miles above the earth). There are other services such as Loki [http://loki.com], Veriplace
[http://veriplace.com] ,and FireEagle [http://fireeagle.com] that provide location support
to desktop browsers for providing the same geotargeting capability – without GPS – by
allowing geolocation using other signals and triangulation or merely providing a
commonly available storage for any system to store and retrieve user location
information.
SiRF [http://sirf.com], a major vendor of GPS chipsets, and Skyhook Wireless
[http://skyhookwireless.com], the developer of Loki (the service that powers the iPhone’s
WiFi-geolocation capability) are taking an intriguing new approach. They have partnered
to develop a line of chips that provide hybrid GPS and WiFi/cell-tower geolocation.
Another approach relies on third-party services rather than built-in geolocation. Business
or services that want to provide location-based services can get location estimates based
on travel calendars or location brokers. Devices can select the capability most appropriate
to their current environment.
Inside and Outside the Car
Personal Navigation Devices (PNDs) are the dashboard-mountable navigation units sold
by vendors including Garmin [http://garmin.com], TomTom [http://tomtom.com], and
Magellan [http:// magellangps.com]. These systems use static, pre-loaded information,
and frequently deliver outdated maps and business information. It can take as long as
three years for new data to show up in a PND.
[IN THIS CHART, WE NEED TO
NOTE THAT THE 2015 NUMBERS
ARE A GUESS] To improve the
timeliness of PND geodata, some
devices access online information
through wireless connections. To date,
dynamic updates mostly cover real-time
traffic information and points of
interest. However, the Dash Express
Connected GPS (http://dash.net)
includes two-way communication over
cellular and WiFi networks; a
connection maintained while the
vehicle is in motion. Currently the Dash provides real-time traffic information. It also
offers online search. Individuals can query the Dash PND for Yahoo! local listings and
some third-party search services. Dash can push updates to networked PNDs as they
become available.
As with internet maps, most current PNDs are automotive-centric — assuming the
operator is car-bound and must obey traffic restrictions. People who walk or bike need
maps and routing information as well, and there is enough of a market that certain PND
models such as the Mio Digiwalker [http://mio.com] provide pedestrian directions.
Historically, personal electronic devices have converged from multiple specialized
devices into single units that bring multiple services into one unit. BlackBerries offer
phone, contact management, and email. The Apple iPhone adds music and rich internet
browsing, as well as preliminary geolocation and routing capabilities. Now, a traditional
GPS-manufacturer is producing a multi-service device. The upcoming Garmin Nuvifone
[http://garmin.com/nuvifone/] (to be release Q3 2008), is a phone, mobile web browser,
and personal navigator. Telematics studies show that the projected sale of mobile
handsets will greatly outpace the specific PNDs. We expect to see PND capability in
more and more mobile handsets.
Mobile phones are becoming more integrated with automobiles as well. Several vehicle
lines provide built-in Bluetooth headset and contact management integration. Future
mobile devices could offer hybrid pedestrian and vehicular navigation and map display.
Businesses should position themselves to provide services that assume hybrid modes of
transport. Customers may begin by needing vehicle-based directions to a venue. But then
they will want to get out of the car and continue getting routing directions through the
mobile unit. The ubiquity of geo-enabled devices is just the beginning, and will likely
spur the market for follow-on services and applications.
SIDEBAR: Next Generation Mobile Today, the Apple iPhone
Apple recently released their next generation mobile device, the iPhone 3G. This device
included two industry-changing features: Core Location and the App Store. Core
Location provides developers simple and provider agnostic support for user geolocation.
The App Store allows users to purchase and download applications directly onto the
mobile device – overcoming the aversion and difficulty in downloading mobile
applications on a desktop computer and transferring them to the device.
The result has been a very quick distribution of many new location-based services at the
launch of the iPhone 3G and App Store. Expected social media applications such as
Loopt, uLocate, and Platial were released, but in addition ancillary applications such as
Urban Spoon, a restaurant finding application, and Plum, a location-based note taking
service, have quickly gained broad appeal.
Google’s opens-source mobile operating system, Android
[http://code.google.com/android/], expects to provide similar compelling user experience
and location-based support. However the release of the system, and supporting phones,
was recently delayed until late 2008 or Q1 2009.
Expect upcoming iPhone applications to quickly push out the adoption of mobile
location-based functionality and services.
Getting onto devices
Previously it was hard for businesses to determine a user’s location. Carriers closely
guarded this information. This prevented businesses from building location-based
services into multiple potential systems. This is changing as more carriers open up their
platforms to developers and applications to access this information.
Apple’s iPhone programming framework provides a component called Core Location that
lets any registered developer access and utilize the device’s underlying geolocating
capability to provide localized services. This will let businesses provide location-enabled
content without dealing with carriers or specific hardware issues. However, studies show
that users are less likely to install a specific application than use a device's web browser
or SMS. So how can a service provide geo-specific mobile content without requiring a
unique application?
uLocate [http://ulocate.com] has built the WHERE platform [http://where.com], a
simplified widget interface that developers can use to build location-based services.
uLocate is working to be available across a variety of Nokia and BlackBerry devices on
major carriers such as AT&T, Sprint, Helio, and Boost Mobile. Because it works on so
many platforms, businesses can deploy an application to many users at once, regardless
of phone or network.
The newly opened Apple AppStore [http://www.apple.com/iphone/appstore/] further
addresses the difficult issue of third-party applications by providing an on-device portal
for purchasing and downloading applications. In addition, users can purchase applications
through the iTunes desktop application that will be automatically downloaded and
synchronized to the Apple iPhone.
Another potential solution is for device manufacturers to build the platform into their
systems. Dash Network is releasing an Application Programming Interface (API) that lets
third-party applications provide search interfaces on Dash devices to their respective
services. It uses the open standard GeoRSS. Google Maps for Mobile also supports this
by pulling in KML files from sundry services.
Finally, next-generation mobile web browsers will provide user location information to
any web site, enabling web sites to provide local information without users needing to
install an application.
Personal Tracking
Personal tracking can track anyone’s movements: yours, your friend’s, your vehicle’s,
even your pet’s. uBlip [http://ublip.com], for example, offers a service called personal
fleet tracking. Customers install a hardware device in their car and login to a web service
that they can use to track their vehicles. ZoomBak [http://zoombak.com] provides
services for pet tracking and location.
FireEagle is a recently launched location-brokering service offered by Yahoo! It serves as
a common hub for user location. Third-party services can publish and subscribe to a
user's location at varying degrees of privacy, all set by the individual. Businesses can tie
into the FireEagle service to geolocate users on different platforms through the open
programmatic interface. Since FireEagle is a common location store, a specific service
does not have to know how the geolocation was performed, only the actual location of the
individual and therefore provide localized information.
By pushing the specific implementation to brokering systems such as FireEagle,
businesses are free to provide value-added location-based services. For a recently
released project, Fire Eagle has inspired quite a bit of developer activity including thirdparty integration with messaging-site Twitter [http://twitter.com] and Dopplr
[http://dopplr.com], a travel social network.
Mapvertising
Demand and interest is increasing for combing local search with geographically relevant
advertising. In a 2006 survey of search trends, WebVisible found that 70% of
respondents had used the Internet to search for a local service business.
eMarketer confirms the growing
importance of local advertising, projecting
the share to grow from 12.1% to 17.7% of
total online advertising in the U.S. Borrell
Associates estimates that $8.5 billion was
spent in 2007 for local online advertising
and that it will grow to $12.6 billion this
year.
Geotargeted advertising delivers ads from
nearby businesses. This targeting can be
based either on geolocation or by the specific search terms in the query itself, such as
"Restaurant in Paris." For example, the restaurant review service Yelp provides
sponsored restaurant links based on the geographic area and search terms.
Geo-Modifiers
Current ad platforms choose their service area by general city, zip code, or DMA (Direct
Marketing Area). This model does not fit all business needs. Different businesses have
different geotargeting needs depending on their service area, expected customer method
of transit (e.g. car, walking, train), density and distance to nearby competitors. Current
systems do little to capture the actual query terms used by users to provide geographically
relevant ads.
One mechanism for addressing this is Urban Mapping's GeoMods
[http://urbanmapping.com/geomods]. Using its database of location names, GeoMods lets
individuals select a geographic service area and then provides the advertiser with
appropriate potential geographic terms to use for placing ads. For example, a café has a
service area of several blocks, so geotargeted advertisements should not show up 10
miles away. GeoMods and specific keywords would suggest local neighborhood names
and typical geo-search terms used in that small area. A car dealership has a much larger
service area and should apply a larger set of geographic keywords to generate leads.
Even though this type of tool finds appropriate location names, it still leaves a gap.
Businesses need services that better place them in front of potential customers by
investigating the usage patterns and tools of these users. As sites and tools move off the
desktop to mobile devices, services will use these patterns to place ads more precisely.
Where is the person when he is searching: a bar, a car, at home? Is he en route to a
destination, based, perhaps, on his calendar? Does he have limited time to perform some
essential task? Answering these kinds of questions about the appropriateness and
placement of ads will lead to happier viewers of the ads and better conversion rates.
SUBHEAD: Ad Placement
After businesses locate a user so they can pick and serve an appropriate advertisement,
they have to figure out where to place that ad. There is currently a disconnect between
displaying map data and placing geographically relevant ads. The primary content area
on the screen, the map, is graphical and requires the user to focus and scan a small space
to find pertinent markers or information. But most advertising platforms are text-based
and place their words outside the map area.
In-map advertising places sponsored, contextually relevant markers within a map. Google
Maps and Map24 now employ in-map advertising for hotels, restaurants, and other
services.
Several examples of in-map advertising platforms, Lat49 and Google
Lat49 [http://lat49.com] offers a cross between marker ads and traditional advertising. Ad
space is allocated within the map view, based on the view area of the map, but is limited
to text- and image-advertisements.
Companies need to be careful about in-map advertising. It can lead to unintended and
unpleasant user experiences. One such example, in which a search for “Romantic Dining”
yields an advertisement for an un-romantic restaurant, is shown below:
Map advertising can go bad. Be aware of the experience you will be creating with in-map
advertising. Know the context.
Embedded advertisements will become more prevalent, and we hope their purveyors can
surmount the difficult user experience hurdles: small screen sizes, limited functionality,
and contention for real-world interaction. This is especially pertinent when it comes to
advertising on a navigation unit in a car. Advertising is all about attention – but do you
want to distract the driver?
SUBHEAD: Traditional GIS
Where 2.0 is just beginning, and the incumbent Geospatial Information Systems (GIS)
industry remains a dominant force in the geo market.
GIS is a generic term referring to technology that stores, processes, analyzes, and
displays geospatial data. GIS systems are heavily used in government agencies and large
enterprises and are focused on handling large, complex data sets with very precise
requirements.
There is currently much debate in technical forums differentiating GIS and Where 2.0.
That discussion is beyond the scope of this report. However, there are elements of that
back-and-forth that are crucial to an understanding of Where 2.0.
The most influential company in GIS is Environmental Systems Research Institute
(ESRI) [http://esri.com], which dominates the government and enterprise desktop
markets. Its tools, including ArcGIS Server and
ArcInfo, are the industry standards for spatial
storage and analysis.
While ESRI is not the only GIS solution
provider, it is definitely the largest and its
success is indicative of the industry trend. Over
the last five years, total revenues have grown an
average of 9 percent annually. A 2007 ESRI
users conference drew an estimated 14,500
attendees.
Despite its huge footprint, to date, ESRI has not been a big player in the emerging online
GeoWeb. This may change when ESRI releases the next version of its flagship software,
ArcGIS Server, 9.3, in Q3, 2008 - the first ArcGIS server version that works with internet
standards. It will provide better mechanisms for users to manipulate and export data. This
means that the many customers of this software will be looking for new services to
integrate into their existing workflow.
Open Source Geospatial Tools
Open source tools offer a free and powerful alternative to commercial GIS software.
These applications and libraries match the features of industry standard packages and
encourage developers to alter and improve them. OSGeo (Open-Source Geospatial
Foundation) [http://osgeo.org] is a guiding body that incubates new software projects and
provides support for organizations that seek open source GIS tools.
Brazil and Chile are pushing government agencies and prominent companies to use open
source tools. European companies are also quickly moving to license-free applications.
As a result, an economy of consultancies and vendors is emerging around these systems.
We’re seeing more case studies that favorably compare the end-to-end costs of open-
source GIS to their commercial equivalents, similar to what we’ve seen for open source
software like Linux and Apache.
Neogeography
Neogeography provides non-experts with easy-to-use, collaborative mapping tools.
Mapping software and libraries have made it easy for developers to build geo capabilities
into websites and associated tools.
Web 2.0 mashups, the combination of
multiple data sources to create something
new, are ideal for Where 2.0. On
ProgramableWeb
[http://programmableweb.com], a registry
of online APIs and mashups, more than
half of the submitted sites make use of a
mapping library such as Google Maps or Microsoft Virtual Earth.
General placemarking sites like Google MyMaps and Platial have done much to provide
simple tools that help individuals draw geographic data and embed the data into their
applications and sites. They provide easy-to-use interfaces for creating data and
distributing via KML and GeoRSS in other applications.
Neogeography and GIS are both beginning to show how geospatial technology can be
applied to almost any domain. While not all data types have a clear geospatial aspect,
there are plenty of tools, libraries and geodata service companies that can help an
organization create a useful geospatial infrastructure that complements business goals.
Let us look at a few neogeography applications.
Geo Social Networks - a Contrarian View [Mark: please pull out this section as a
sidebar]
Geo info seems to be a natural fit for next-generation social networks. Some tools have
already shown up that tap into this space, such as Plazes [http://plazes.com], Loopt
[http://loopt.com], and BuddyBeacon [http://www.ulocate.com/buddybeacon.php].
Location and proximity can complement a social network application. Think of location
and proximity as second-tier features of a social network, analogous to exposing your
tastes in music, food and pets, but subordinate to the primary goal of finding folks with
compatible interests. Information-brokering tools like Fire Eagle help provide the
interoperability needed to integrate location with social networks.
--END SIDEBAR, BACK TO MAIN TEXT--
GeoGames
With the increasing availability of geo features on devices comes an increase in
opportunities (or, at least, attempts) to make money from them. One example is the
nascent location-based gaming industry.
Geocaching [http://geocaching.org], one of the first location-based games, is a "treasure
hunt" for GPS users (caches are hidden bundles of information and rewards that game
contestants look for and place using GPS coordinates). People challenge each other to
find waypoints (and often physical markers), with some limitations (no parks, for
example). One company, Ground Speak [http://groundspeak.com], tracks caches and
sells coins that are uniquely numbered for a particular spot. Ground Speak recently
released Wherigo [http://wherigo.com], a gaming platform that lets players make virtual
caches. Wherigo comes with some of the newer Garmin GPSs (the platform will also run
on Microsoft smartphones and, later this year, in Java). Ground Speak hopes to make
money by creating a marketplace where creators can sell their games.
Ground Speak is not the only company hoping that a platform is the key to creating this
nascent space. Germany-based Orbster [http://orbster.com] is developing a geo-gaming
platform for Windows Mobile and Symbian S60, as well as back end tools to manage all
of the geo content. HP Research’s location-based gaming platform Mediascapes has
gained developer interest.
More and more laptops can be geolocated. area/code [http://playareacode.com] took
advantage of this and broke out of the scavenger hunt model with Plundr
[http://plundr.com]. Plundr is a pirate game based around getting to WiFi hotspots (it
uses Loki to find those hotspots). The first player to claim a hotspot can charge rent.
area/code teamed up with the Discovery Channel to create SharkRunners
[http://www.sharkrunners.com/], a game in which users virtually interact with real, geolocated sharks by going on virtual dives and research missions.
Sony has also shown interest in this area. Long after hackers added a DIY GPS module to
the PSP, Sony released its own. The GPS module has been available in Japan for over a
year and games are now starting to trickle out, among them first-person shooters (FPS)
and golf games (see http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/blog/index.php/2008/02/23/psp-gpsshown-at-gdc-08/). No U.S. release dates have been announced.
While geocaching has been around since 2000, when the U.S. government removed
restrictions on the accuracy of GPSs, the genre has yet to spawn a breakout hit, a game
that draws in folks who don't currently own a GPS or smartphone. Most of the games
being created now are scavenger hunts. What's missing is a game with a longer, more
engaging narrative that people can play constantly, for example, an Alternate Reality
Game (ARG). Currently, ARGs are used primarily as marketing devices for computer
games (Halo via www.ilovebees.com) and movies (The Dark Knight via
www.whysoserious.com). These games add a game layer on top of their players’ real
world activities (for example, World Without Oil [http://worldwithoutoil.org/] had people
trying to conserve fossil fuels). An addictive ARG that made intelligent use of location
could kick-start the genre.
Immersive Worlds
We’re used to seeing maps in two-dimensional displays, although 3D geospatial
browsers, such as Google Earth or NASA WorldWind, have become quite popular. A
newly emerging space, immersive worlds, serves as a step between 2D and 3D. These
displays, which work inside web browsers, offer high-resolution “street level” views of
locations. Popular applications include EveryScape [http://everyscape.com], Google
StreetView [http://maps.google.com], Microsoft Virtual Earth [http://maps.live.com],
EarthMine [http://earthmine.com], MapJack [http://mapjack.com], and iiCosmo
[http://iicosmo.com]. EarthMine takes immersive worlds a step further by providing tools
for annotating the 3D spaces within a video.
Users of virtual worlds such as Second Life are also creating real-world models for
annotation and integration with physical data. SceneCaster [http://scenecaster.com] is
working to bring virtual worlds to social networks. Its Facebook application lets users
embed virtual scenes in their Facebook pages. It has 11,000 active daily users.
Caption: Scenecaster Facebook application
[http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=2394883157]
Caption: Microsoft Virtual Earth - Image of Las Vegas
Caption: Everyscape - Image of the Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco
Caption: Google StreetView - Market Street, San Francisco
Caption: Mapjack - Pattaya, Thailand
Augmented Reality
Augmented reality is one step beyond the purely virtual representation of space. It serves
as a bridge between the annotated GeoWeb and physical reality. This emerging software
trend takes data generated on the GeoWeb and provides data overlays in real-time. The
data layers can take the form of factual data like street names, neighborhoods, or the
name of a building. Augmented reality systems add more ephemeral data such as that
captured by real-time sensors (e.g., road conditions, building occupancy, and weather) or
even personal information about the people on the street, their web presences, contact
information, and preferences.
Caption: Earthmine provides an interface for annotating real world images and videos
Earthscape [http://earthscape.com] has developed Earthscape ARS, a system that puts
street names and neighborhood data over an infrared camera feed from a helicopter.
Currently, this is being marketed to police, but we can imagine similar functionality
available in a car. Earthscape’s product will be an open platform on which developers can
build their own Augmented Reality apps with Javascript and HTML – tools that web
developers know well.
GeoVector [http://geovector.com/] lets people point at real-world objects with a mobile
phone and request information about the object. Individuals can pull up information
about stores, real estate, and even tracked moving objects using the system. Advertisers
can extend this by displaying targeted ads based on the location, direction faced, and
object being queried.
In an early sign of what’s to come, developers have extended Google’s soon-to-be
released mobile platform, Android [http://code.google.com/android/], as a platform for
Augmented Reality development. For the Android Developer Challenge, two researchers
created Enkin [http://enkin.net], a navigation system individuals can use to create, share,
and view placemarks. If you look at the mobile screen when Enkin is in Live Mode,
placemarks (location tags) are displayed on buildings, roads, or wherever else they have
been placed.
Caption: Enkin’s Live Mode
caption: Enkin in the Android emulator
In addition to Android, we expect Nokia to be a major platform provider and developer of
augmented reality systems for mobile devices now that the purchase of NAVTEQ is
closed. Many of Nokia’s hardware devices come with some means of gaining the
device’s location, plus they include video cameras (the top-selling N95 phone has a 5
megapixel camera). When Nokia is able to merge that data with its phones and other
location-aware mobile devices, it will have the pieces necessary for widespread
augmented reality applications.
Caption: Earthscape ARS – neighborhood overlays
SIDEBAR: Disaster Response
While not typically thought of as a large business opportunity, the application of
geospatial technologies to disaster response has received much attention lately. In the
compressed time span and high demand operations of a disaster, users will reach for
readily available tools they are comfortable with. To meet the urgent needs of the
moment, they tap the latent capabilities of familiar technology.
One particularly compelling example can be found in the recent fires around Southern
California and the Baja peninsula. Media agencies used Google MyMaps to map the fire
progression, citizens captured and geotagged photographs and uploaded them to Flickr,
and responders used Twitter to publicize evacuation routes and shelters. More advanced
geospatial data from satellite analysis was shared via open interfaces. In another case,
people used Amazon's Mechanical Turk to try to find missing individuals in large
wilderness areas by marking and identifying potential locations on satellite imagery. -END SIDEBAR, BACK TO MAIN TEXT-GeoPrivacy
The good news is that geo in your phone can tell where you are. The bad news is that it
can tell other people as well. The U.S. government, for example, can subpoena personal
information from service providers -- including location history.
The issue of electronic privacy came up in the discussions around cell phone records
requested by the government from major carriers. More recently, the developer of
TXTmob [http://txtmob.com], a text-messaging service used by activists to organize
rallies and protests, was subpoenaed for the records of all messages sent during a protest
of the Republican National Convention in New York City in 2004. The Electronic
Frontier Foundation publishes a set of suggested rules for protecting yourself from
becoming targets of subpoenas, both from the government and via individual suits
[http://www.eff.org/issues/privacy].
Loopt [http://loopt.com], a mobile friend-finding service, simply states that users must
opt-in to the system. Once people do, their location information is then collected and
displayed to “friends” within Loopt. In addition, Loopt shares this information with thirdparty carriers, partners, advertisers, contractors, and successors. Google has a similar
privacy policy with regards to all of your information.
Yahoo!’s location brokerage FireEagle goes to great lengths to educate users on the
potential consequences of sharing their location information. A primary feature of the
service is the ability for users to set varying levels of specificity (address, neighborhood,
city, or state) about their location for each application. This authorization can also be
centrally revoked, making it easy for people to feel secure that they are no longer sharing
private location information. Dash Navigation, the internet-connected-GPS producer,
does not store or associate any personal information with location. Flickr makes it easy
for users to choose several levels of privacy of their geotagged information.
Caption: Fire Eagle’s and Flickr’s permissions and privacy pages
In fact, of Flickr’s current 72 million geotagged media, 22 million – more than 30% have been marked as private. This strongly demonstrates the desire by users to have easy
mechanisms for keeping some location-based content private.
Despite privacy concerns, we expect most people will share their location in exchange for
richer functionality. However, services must disclose fully the use of this location
information and make it possible for customers to later revoke this permission and delete
historic information.
Standards and Community Methods
The development community has anticipated the need to securely share data across
applications. The IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) [http://ietf.org] is leading
several standards to prescribe how location storage and messaging protocols should be
implemented. Two specs, both outside standards bodies, are developing geoprivacy
mechanisms.
The first, OAuth [http://oauth.net], is a recently developed protocol to help people share
their data safely. If a site has implemented OAuth, an individual can give it permission to
share data without giving away login credentials. It gives the requesting user control over
who has what access to their data. And safely sharing information is key to breaking
down information silos.
The other spec, Location Aware Working Group [http://LocationAware.org], is working
to standardize how an individual’s location information is shared with a website through
the browser. Though currently in the very early stages, it will become more relevant with
the increasing number of location-enabled mobile phones, laptops and other devices. For
example, right now there is no way for a GPS-enabled phone to let a website know the
user’s location – something that can be quite useful for targeting ads or surfacing content.
The LocationAware Group is working to come up with a safe and robust way to pass this
information.
As Where 2.0 continues to become more important to businesses and individuals, issues
such as privacy will become more pressing – and likely more controversial. That’s yet
another sign that Where 2.0 is becoming more and more deeply embedded into our
everyday lives.
Appendix: Companies, Applications, and Organizations
The Where2.0 ecosystem of companies, technologies, and community organizations is moving
fast. Every day new technologies are released or applied in novel ways. The listing below is a
sample of the players that are shaping the next-generation geospatial technologies. The list is not
meant to be comprehensive, but it provides a good overview of the Where 2.0 space.
GeoStack
Company/Application
Site
Flickr
flickr.com
Platial
platial.com
Google Maps
Yahoo! Maps
Mapquest
Microsoft Live Local
maps.google.com
maps.yahoo.com
mapquest.com
maps.live.com
WikiTravel Press
wikitravelpress.com
GeoData
Company/Application
Site
Automative Navigation
Data (AND)
and.com
CloudMade
cloudmade.com
About
A photo-sharing service that has become
one of the largest repositories of
geotagged content.
A location-marking website that allows
users to share maps of locations and
embed them in their websites. Recently
Platial acquired Frappr, a site that
allowed social networks to create
markers for each member.
The first of the new wave of Ajax maps
launched in 2005 and was quickly used
to make the first mashups via an
unofficial API. Considered a thoughtleader of the space it is quickly
becoming a traffic leader.
Indexing GeoRSS and KML files
Publishing a travel guide to Paris using
information from WikiTravel and maps
from OpenStreetMap
About
A Dutch geodata company that is
experimenting with opendata and
community updates by providing Open
Street Map with data from China and
the Netherlands.
Newly-funded startup that is based on
Open Street Map data.
DigitalGlobe
digitalglobe.com
DIYDrones
diydrones.com
GeoNames
Local.com
geonames.org
local.com
NAVTEQ
navteq.com
OpenAerialMap
OpenCellId
openaerialmap.org
opencellid.org
OpenStreetMap
openstreetmap.org
Pict'Earth
pictearthusa.com
Tele Atlas
teleatlas.com
Yelp
yelp.com
Mapvertising
Company/Application
Site
Lat49
Map24
lat49.com
map24.com
NearByNow
nearbynow.com
Urban Mapping
urbanmapping.com
EveryBlock
everyblock.com
Vendor of Satellite imagery
Community of hobbyists building
autonomous aircraft for on-demand
remote imaging
Free and open database of placenames
and geocoding web services.
Incorporates user-contributed data. Now
offering high availability paid services.
Generic local search site
Largest geodata provider that is being
purchased by Nokia, the mobile handset
manufacturer.
An opendata project that aims to host
aerial and satellite imagery
Open database of cell tower locations
An opendata project to map the world
by and for the community. It;s data is
increasingly being used commercially.
Company building tools and community
for capturing and processing on-demand
and user-generated remote imagery
Second largest geodata Provider that is
being purchased by TomTom, the GPS
manufacturer.
Highly used online directory of
restaurants with user reviews. Using
contexted, geotargeted ads
About
A Vancouver-based company that sells
geo-targeted ads on maps.
Map provider uses in-map advertising.
A company that alerts shoppers to sales
and coupons at malls via SMS.
Building tools to provide geographically
relevant keywords, or Geo-Mods.
Hyperlocal content aggregator that is
working with municipalities to share
and aggregate geospatial data. Focusing
on providing easy interface and quality
content to citizens.
GIS
Company/Application
Site
ESRI
esri.com
FortiusOne
fortiusone.com;
geocommons.com
Mapufacture
mapufacture.com
OSGeo Foundation
ProgrammableWeb
osgeo.org
programmableweb.c
om
Immersive
Company/Application
Site
EarthMine
earthmine.com
EveryScape
everyscape.com
GeoVector
geovector.com
Google StreetView
maps.google.com
iiCosmo
MapJack
Microsoft Virtual Earth
iicosmo.com
mapjack.com
microsoft.com/virtua
About
Preeminent developer of GIS
applications
A geo-data sharing site that provides
heat map visualizations of multiple data
sets. Their goal is to become the web's
central repository for geodata.
One of the first demonstrative geospatial
aggregator of user-generated geospatial
content. Mapufacture aims to bring GIS
mapping tools to consumers and
organizations.
Foundation to provide support for
development of open-source and opendata geospatial technologies.
Registry of web mashups and
programatic interfaces
About
Performs high-resolution scanning along
roads and tools for annotating the 3dimensional space.
Captures immersive video both outside
and inside buildings for exploration and
experience.
Sells mobile software that enables you
to point in your phone in a direction to
do a search.
Panoramic, immersive video of cities
overlaid with Google Maps
Japanese based company doing
immersive video across the world.
Providing low-cost immersive imagery
NASA WorldWind
SceneCaster
learth/
worldwind.arc.nasa.
gov
scenecaster.com
Mobile
Company/Application
Site
Apple
apple.com
BugLabs
buglabs.net
Dash Networks
dash.net
Garmin
garmin.com
Mio
mio.com
Nokia
nokia.com
SiRF
sirf.com
Open-Source virtual world viewer
About
Electronics hardware manufacturer.
Recentl added support to iPhone for
geolocation using cell and WiFi.
Releasing open library to third-party
developers to build and distribute
location-based applications.
An open-source hardware company that
is created a series of physical modules
that can be combined to make almost
any handheld gadget. All of the software
is user created. A GPS and
Accelerometer were among the first
modules released. Location-based apps
are the most popular type of application.
Developed a two-way internet
connected automotive navigation device
for offering real-time traffic, search, and
dynamic updates. Releasing an API for
third parties to push content to devices.
GPS device manufacturer that has
released the Wherigo location-based
gaming platform
Personal navigation devices that offer
pedestrian route capabilities
Mobile electronics developer with large
presence in Africa. Recently made a bid
to purchase NAVTEQ and moving into
geodata collection and augmented
reality applications.
GPS Chip manufacturer. Working with
Skyhook Wireless to develop hybrid
geolocation technology for WiFi and
GPS dual location.
Skyhook Wireless
skyhookwireless.co
m
TomTom
tomtom.com
uBlip
ublip.com
uLocate
ZoomBak
ulocate.com
zoombak.com
GeoPrivacy
Company/Application
Site
Electronic Frontier
Foundation
www.eff.org/issues/
privacy
LocationAware
Loopt
locationaware.org
loopt.com
OAuth
TXTmob
oauth.org
txtmob.com
Developers of WiFi geolocation
technology Loki [loki.com]. Also
working with SiRF GPS chip
manufacturer to develop hybrid GPS
and WiFi components, XPS.
Navigation Device Manufacturer,
popular in Europe. Made a bid to
purchase Tele Atlas. Developed
MapShare for users to provide invehicle feedback on road data.
Automotive GPS Tracking device and
service provider
Developing a mobile widget platform
for location-based services.
GPS Tracking devices for cars and pets.
About
Foundation that provides services and
support for organizations using open
data and technology that need legal
advice and strategy.
Community developed standard for
geolocation programming interfaces.
Mobile geolocated social network
Community developed standard for
allowing users to authorize third-party
applications to access private data
without sharing private credentials like
password.
WaveMarket Veriplace
veriplace.dom Yahoo FireEagle
fireeagle.com
Another location brokering system for
sharing location.
Location brokering system that provides
a mechanism for third-party tools to
publish and subscribe to users’
locations. Uses OAuth.
Social Networking
Brightkite
brightkite.com
Location-based social network site that
BuddyBeacon
Loopt
mologogo
Plazes
ulocate.com/buddyb
eacon.php
loopt.com
mologogo.com
whereyougonnabe
plazes.com
whereyougonnabe.c
om
GeoGames
Company
Site
Geocaching
Ground Speak
HP Media Scapes
Orbster
Play Area/Code
Plundr
Wherigo
World Without Oil
uses mobile, web, and FireEagle to set
location and share with friends.
Helio carrier specific friend tracking
application created by uLocate.
Free geolocated social network
General user tracking platform that has
been popular in Europe, but has not yet
gained traction in the US.
Facebook Application that adds user
location and tracking
About
Provides large database of hidden
packages, or caches, for users to find
geocaching.org
using GPS receivers
groundspeak.com
Company building the geocaching.org
www.mscapers.com/ A gaming platform from HP
Another company building tools for
users to create location-based games.
orbster.com
Flagship product is GPSMission.
playareacode.com
Consultancy that builds locative games.
Location based game of arbitrage that
changes dynamics depending on where
plundr.com
the player is and has traveled to.
Provide tools for creating and playing
wherigo.com
GPS-enabled adventures
An alternate reality game using blogs,
videos, voicemail and images to bring
Worldwithoutoil.org awareness to a global crisis.