Ask the Crowd About the Buzz at a Venue

Localmind

Localmind allows you to ask questions of people at specific locations. For example, if you are thinking of heading out to your local bar you could ask Localmind whether the place is buzzing or not. If another Localmind user is at the bar they receive the question on their phone and can respond in real-time.

If you are Localmind user when you check-in with your favourite check-in service (such as Foursquare, Gowalla, or Facebook Places) you become available to be sent a question about that location. If a fellow user has a question about that location, you receive a notification and can respond in real-time.

Localmind users earn karma every time that they contribute something useful. You earn 5 karma points for checking-in at a venue, and 10 karma points for answering a question at a venue.

The Localmind website uses Google Maps to show you where Localmind experts are currently available to answer your questions. Localmind is also available as an iPhone app, which you will need to get the full benefit of the service.

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Share Your World with Google Maps

Mobnotes

Mobnotes lets you share your location with friends, share your favourite places, search for venues around you and view other people in your vicinity. The application is available from the desktop and as an iPhone and Android app.

Google Maps is used extensively by Mobnotes. The home page features a real-time animated map of the latest check-ins made by users of Mobnotes. You can also use Google Maps to show your location and to view places/venues and other users nearby.

You can also use Mobnotes to let your friends know where you’ll be at a particular time. You can specify a location and inform your friends when you will be there using the Mobnotes 'Events' feature.

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Get Great Local Advice from the Crowd

Crowdbeacon

Crowdbeacon is a great new app that lets you ask location based questions. The app is available for the iPhone and for the desktop.

Using the app you can click on a Google Map to set your location (if you are using your phone your location will be detected automatically). Once you have determined your location you can then ask your question. For example, you could ask where the best restaurant for tapas is nearby or ask if there is anywhere with live music in the neighborhood.

Your question is then posted to other Crowdbeacon users in your vicinity. When you sign up to Crowdbeacon you are asked to choose one category that you are willing to help people in your home city with (i.e, nightlife, shopping, restaurants etc.). This self-identified choice powers the Crowdbeacon notification system, which lets the user know that someone in their city has a question about the category they chose.

I asked Crowdbeacon for a great place to get breakfast on Van Ness Ave in San Francisco. Despite it being 2.30 am I started getting suggestions in a matter of seconds. Which is pretty impressive (unfortunately, as I was actually in London, I couldn't check out how good any of the suggestions were).

If no one nearby is listening and you don't get a real-time repsonse Crowdbeacon will answer your question with relevant information from other location-based services such as Yelp, Foursquare and Wishpond.

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Location Based Reminders

Geoloqi

Geoloqi is an iPhone app with some great location sharing features. The features of Geoloqi include Geonotes, automatic Foursquare checkins, and private real-time GPS tracking.

Similar to Glympse, Geoloqi allows you to share your location with those you want to, for a limited time. Your friends can then view your location on a Google Map only for the time that you have defined.

The Geonote option allows you to leave a message in a location and have it e-mailed, texted or pushed to you when you get to that location. You can therefore send yourself a message reminding yourself to pick up milk. You can set the location so that you receive the Geonote when you are passing the store. Or you could leave yourself a note at work reminding yourself about an important task.

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Social Networking with Google Maps

LikeOurselves

LikeOurselves uses Google Maps to help you find people, around your current location, who share your interests. LikeOurselves shows you where these people are, tells you what you have in common and provides you with the means to let you chat.

Once you share your location with LikeOurselves you can view the venues around you where people are currently checked-in on a Google Map . If you then select a venue you can view the people who are available to chat.

If you are ready to chat you can select the the 'hi' option. If anyone else has also selected the 'hi' option you are then free to chat to each other.

LikeOurselves is available from your desktop or from your mobile so you can find potential friends either at home or when out and about.

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Check-in with Google Maps

You Scoop it

You Scoop it is a new social network that is trying to crack the crowded location check-in market. You Scoop it lets you find, review, write about or check-in with anyone, anywhere or anything. Using You Scoop it you can find and follow your friends, earn badges and unlock achievements.

Like Foursquare and other LBS applications You Scoop it lets you check-in at locations around the world. The site uses Google Maps to show you the location of places. You can then check-in, write a review and add pictures of videos.

You Scoop it differs from other location based services in that it isn't restricting itself to locations. You can also check-in people and things. Using You Scoop it you can write a review about a person and post pictures and videos of them. Or you can write a review about an object, such as a product, and share that information with your social network.

You can connect your You Scoop it account with Facebook but at the moment there doesn't appear to be any smart phone applications. If You Scoop it is serious about breaking into the LBS market then they really need to start thinking about how users can check-in via their phones.

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The New Foursquare Challenger

Geomium

Launched only yesterday Geomium has quickly gathered a lot of favourable press. Geomium is a new location based service for the iPhone that uses data from Yelp, Qype and Eventful to show you where your friends are located and events that are in your current vicinity.

Using Geomium you can view location information and reviews displayed on a Google Map and also see where your friends are right now. Geomium shows you where people are, you can view the location of your friends and you can also view the locations of other Geomium users.

Geomium also shows you the places that are near by. Using the application you can find the best bars, restaurants, and cafes around your current location. You can mark your favourite places and you can also check-in to places, and see who else has checked in.

Geomium lists all kinds of events, including theatre shows, festivals, concerts, and parties. You can browse through all of the events, or filter by type and date. You can use Geomium to let your friends know you'll be attending an event, and see who else will be going.

The application also offers localised deals, including discounts at bars and restaurants. Currently Geomium is only available for the iPhone but support for other mobile platforms is in the pipeline.

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Sharing Locations with Google Maps

WhereMark

WhereMark is another start-up trying to break into the Location Based Services market. Using the site's website, or the iPhone application, users can share and find find local points of interest. Essentially the site enables you to save and share your favourite locations with Google Maps.

To save a WhereMark you need to double click on the map. When you do so an information window opens that allows you to share information about the location. The information window for each saved location includes tabs to view a Street View and get driving directions. From the map sidebar you can choose to view all 'public' WhereMarks or only those submitted by you.

The site includes the option to connect with Facebook and share your WhereMarks with your Facebook friends.

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What's Happening in Your City

StreetMavens

StreetMaven wants to help you connect with 'the real-time pulse of your city'. Using StreetMaven you can view photos, events and the real-time conversations in your area.

Once you have signed in and shared your location with StreetMaven you are presented with a Google Map of your location. Using the map you can view 'StreetTalk', Businesses, Events, Photos and other StreetMavens in your area.

StreetMaven is currently in Beta. It looks like there will be a lot of social networking features, a gaming element where you can earn badges and a feature to send messages to other users. With so much going on the site could definitely be enhanced by a FAQ page.

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Grindr - A Gay Location Based Service

Grindr

Grindr is a location based service for gay men. It is available for the iPhone and the Blackberry.

The application uses your current location to instantly connect you with other gay men in your area. When you launch Grindr you will be shown local guys (the closest appear first) and you can choose to view pictures, stats and their location on Google Maps.

Men who appear with a green dot are currently online and ready to chat. Those shown with a yellow star is a favorite and will always appear in your Grindr application.

Also See

• GayBarMaps
• ClubFly - Gay bar and club finder for the US
• GayScout - the international gay travel guide
• Seattle Gay Bars and Clubs - Google Maps Guide to gay Seattle

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LBS for Close Friends and Family Only

Neer

With so many popular location based services already established and with last week's launch of Facebook Places it is going to be increasingly hard for any new entrants to grab a slice of the location pie. To do so a start-up will have to offer something new and unique. Neer does!

I suspect that there are many potential users of location based services who have been put off signing up to the established players because of privacy concerns. There are lots of people who just don't want to share their location with the whole population. Neer is targeting those users by allowing them to set up their own private location sharing networks.

Neer lets users share their location with small, select groups of friends and family. It also allows users to select the places where friends can see their location. Neer uses Google Maps to help users define these shareable locations.

The application is available now for Android phones and an iPhone app is on the way.

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Visualise Your Foursquare Check-ins

Recently a lot of internet sites simultaneously discovered that you can visualise your foursquare check-ins on Google Maps. To see a map of your check-ins all you need to do is right click the KML link on the foursquare feeds page and copy it. Then you can paste the link into the search box in Google Maps and voilà - you have a map of your check-ins.

However this is not the only way to visualise your check-in history. There are actually a few applications that can help you create maps of your check-ins.

Wee Places

Wee Places is probably the best application I've seen for visualising your foursquare check-ins. Wee Places are actually using Cloudmade for the map but the app is so good I had to give it a mention here.

Wee Places provides a map of your check-ins and a time-line. The map animates through your time-line and zaps a yellow line between your check-ins as the time-line plays.

Once the time-line has come to an end you are left with a map of all your check-ins. The size of the map markers reflects the number of times you have checked-in at a venue and, if that is too confusing for you, the marker contains a number telling you the number of check-ins you made here.

4Mapper

Not so visually attractive but effective none-the-less is 4Mapper. Sign into 4mapper with your foursquare account and you can view your check-ins on a Google Map.

4mapper lets you keep your map private or you can make it public and share your map with the world.

4sq Maps
4sq maps is another application that hasn't gone overboard on the design budget but it does have some very nice features.

4sq Maps uses different coloured map markers to show your check-ins, your mayorships and also shows you where your friends have checked-in. 4sq Maps can also provide a static image of your map so that you can place an image of your map in your own website or blog.

Tripline

The wonderful Tripline, that I reviewed last week, also has an option to visualise your foursquare check-ins.

Tripline has some wonderful features that do make it a great way to visualise your check-ins. Unfortunately at the moment you can only import your last fifteen check-ins, so it is limited in scope.

Gowalla Walk

Just in case Gowalla users were beginning to feel left out there is one great Gowalla Google Map mashap. Gowalla Walk is a cool Google Map based application that lets you visualise your Gowalla check-ins.

To create your own Gowalla Walk map all you have to do is enter your username. All the places you have checked-in with Gowalla will then be shown on a Google Map. The locations visited are also listed under the map.

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Augmented Reality Instant Messaging

TagWhat

The last thing the world needs is another location sharing mobile application. However Tagwhat does have a unique selling point. TagWhat isn't just another location sharing application, it is an augmented reality location sharing application.

If you download the Android or iPhone TagWhat application you can then use your mobile phone to share your location with the rest of the world. Your message can then be viewed by other TagWhat mobile users in augmented reality in their phone screens.

As well as appearing in augmented reality your message will appear on the TagWhat real-time animated map of location check-ins. The TagWhat home page features a prominent Google Map that animates through the latest messages sent by TagWhat members.

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Secure Zone Location Sharing

SpotWalla

SpotWalla is a location sharing service with some excellent privacy settings to ensure that you only share your personal data with those that you have given permission.

SpotWalla users can share their location information via trips and / or location pages. Tracks of your trips can be shared on their own Google Map and can be embedded on your own website or blog. Location pages allow multiple users to share their last known location on a single Google Map.

The SpotWalla home page features links to the most popular tracks created with the service. You can also choose to view the most recent and the most active tracks.

With SpotWalla you can define secure zones in which your location will never be displayed. You can set-up secure zones for your home, your place of work or any other location. Once you have defined a secure zone your location will not be shared when you enter those areas.

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