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GEo-location in 2014 : outlook

Alsways an interesting exercise make forecasts, although some trends go often slower than predicted, and other disruptive factors come into place. Let's look at this list of predictions from Geoloco summit: Prediction 1. Geo-data will be free, with OpenStreet Map and other crowd-driven open-source data eclipsing commercial vendors: panelists of the summit did not think this prediction would be true due to quality issues. 2. Location-awareness will be integral to any mobile app: palists agree. 3. More than half of all mobile advertising in 2014 will be location-based: mixed review from panelists . Virtually all user-generated content will be geo-tagged: probably yes 5. Proximity will become a critical filter for content: probably yes, anyay a filtering of relevant information is needed. Prediction 6. Mobile devices scanning QR and bar codes will revolutionize how consumers access information: no clear answer 7. LBS will be integrated with social networks: already done, this...

GEO 2.O cases request

Two years ago I started to analyse the different new trends when geographic maps and participatory web were converging. A first presentatin was made in 2008 , with elements mentionned like crowdsourcing for gathering data, and location based information put on screens. On 13th of October 2010 I will be making a new presentation at Gisotopolis event in Brussels and here I am reaching out to you: what are great cases that you have seen in this GEO 2.0 field? What has emerged as a new trend? Let me know, and I 'll include them in a new anlysis, that of course will be shared back to you. Feedback to tanguy@delestre.org or in remarks below

Haptimap call for addition commercial partners

HaptiMap, Haptic, Audio and Visual Interfaces for Maps and Location Based Services, is a project which receives financial support from the European Commission in the Seventh Framework Programme, under the Cooperation Programme ICT – Information and Communication Technologies (Challenge 7 – Independent living and inclusion). More info http://www.haptimap.org/ COMPETITIVE CALL FOR ADDITIONAL COMMERCIAL PARTNER

Nokia AR point and find

Nokia has been making vast announcements in location based services latelu, such as the Augmented Reality point and find tool, letting evryone add interesting Point of interests. http://pointandfind.nokia.com/publishers Besides, Nokia is making its maps available for free on its Phones, very interesting evolotion. Seems that we are getting a neck to neck race for conquering the mobile application field with contenders like Android (Google), Apple and Tomtom.

WAZE combining game/mobile and crowdsourced maps

Waze, a free provider of driver-generated maps and real-time road information, announced a new version of its free navigation app to include fun gaming elements in addition to smart algorithms, so that waze maps all over the world are updated even quicker. The consumer application is available on the Apple AppStore and the Android Market Place and can be downloaded from the waze web site for Symbian and Windows Mobile devices. The new version adds more capabilities to waze's already popular 'munching' game that encourages users to validate road driving directions as they drive around. The game will now be upgraded to munch `road goodies' - cherries, hammers and small gift packages worth bonus points - that will be placed in areas where the waze system has identified map problems. The highest scoring `road goodies' will be placed in locations with the most severe map issues, and as users drive around to munch these `goodies', waze's system will utilize the dr...

Google turn by turn navigation: the good enough revolution

The announcement of a GPS pack included in the next Android 2.0 (product from Google) has created the stockmarket to dump shares of companies like Tomtom. Having gone through the demo of this Google GPS pack, I have following comments for discussion: + Over the air (off-board) - "free" is quite relative if you have to access the info through mobile data: mobile data packs for connectivity to the cloud are not 'free or unlimited' in my first trial of nav4 free application, a 10 km drive through Brussels did cost me 11 Euros:); alternative networks like wifi are not really of use when on the move; - the Google GPS software is thus a competitor for the applications on smartphones that take maps and info over the air; Nokia provides free mapping services, with a premium for voice guided traffic; a real free GPS over the air service is NAV4all , already existing a few years now, with good maps, speed traffic information, etc... - battery life: wonder if you will be able...

Mobile geotagging (vg telecoms) business opportunity

Identifying people, objects and data by their geographical location has always been crucial, though it has provided limited commercial value. However, the rapid evolution and commoditisation of the communication services technologies has led the way to the development of this activity as a business opportunity. One way to identify the data and objects by their physical location is by geotagging them - the process of adding geographical identification metadata to various media such as photographs, video, websites, RDF or RSS feeds and is a form of geospatial metadata.

Teleatlas community updated maps

(source press release) Tele Atlas Global Digital Map Database Delivers 1.25 Million Edits Sourced from Community Input More than 116,000 Kilometers of Road Geometry in the US and 25,000 Kilometers in Germany Validated and Realigned, Road Networks of Ireland and Turkey Further Defined Gent, Belgium, 28 September 2009 – Tele Atlas, a leading global provider of digital maps and dynamic content for navigation and location based solutions, today released MultiNet® 2009.09, which includes 1.25 million validated edits sourced from community input from more than 30 countries. With this significant volume of community input incorporated, Tele Atlas continues to set the standard for accurate maps, dynamic content and routing intelligence that power the world’s leading location-based applications. MultiNet is the only digital map database that is constantly validated by the tens of millions of consumers who use it. The latest release of the database includes edits sourced from community input acr...