Tag Archives: Location-basedServices

Foursquare for Android updated for more social check-ins, shares club-hopping with the world

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Foursquare for Android updated for more social checkins, shares clubhopping with the world

There's a good reason Foursquare has an Overshare badge. Still, that hasn't stopped the location service from rolling out an update to Android users that simplifies broadcasting your position to the world. The Android check-in screen now matches that of the iOS app with a more streamlined appearance that more quickly shares updates with Facebook and Twitter; mentioning friends is easier as well. As long as your social circle doesn't mind knowing that you checked into three different dance clubs in one night, Foursquare's update awaits at the source.

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Foursquare for Android updated for more social check-ins, shares club-hopping with the world originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 24 Oct 2012 18:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink TalkAndroid  |  sourceGoogle Play  | Email this | Comments

Visualized: Google Street View car fleet gets ready to conquer (and map) the world

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Visualized Google Street View car fleet gets ready to conquer and map the world

Ever wonder how Google can make such grandiose claims for the sheer amount of Street View imagery it collects? Here's how. Google's Masrur Odinaev has posted a snapshot of a central mapping car parking lot that shows dozens of the camera-equipped Subaru Imprezas amassed ahead of future runs. While it already represents more Street View cars in one place than anyone outside of Google would normally ever see, what's most impressive is remembering that this addresses just a portion of the entire vehicle mix -- aside from the local cars you don't see in the photo, there are extra units worldwide providing street-level coverage alongside tricycles and underwater expeditions. Odinaev's look reminds us just how much effort is needed to make Street View a common feature -- and that there are are legions of Google staffers whose low-profile work goes a long way towards making our navigation easier.

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Visualized: Google Street View car fleet gets ready to conquer (and map) the world originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Oct 2012 02:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceMasrur Odinaev (Google+)  | Email this | Comments

Lookout Security & Antivirus for Android gets a makeover, lets missing phones have one last gasp

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Lookout Security & Antivirus for Android gets big makeover, lets lost phones have one last gasp

Missing phone apps such as Find My iPhone often have a glaring weakness: as they depend on pings at regular intervals, they're not much use at tracking down a lost device if the battery dies first. Enter a major revamp of Lookout's Security & Antivirus app for Android. The updated title's new Signal Flare component takes advantage of a phone's tendency to go out in a blaze of wireless glory that marks its last location. By remembering where a phone was unintentionally laid to rest, Signal Flare helps track down a phone that might have died in the parking lot -- or just underneath the couch. Should your phone remain safely in your pocket, you'll likely still appreciate the reworked interface that blends in with Android 4.0 and beyond, the protection against click-to-call exploits and an activity feed that shows just what Lookout has been doing behind the scenes. Android users can get that extra reassurance today, and iOS users have been promised a parallel app in the future.

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Lookout Security & Antivirus for Android gets a makeover, lets missing phones have one last gasp originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Oct 2012 12:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink VentureBeat  |  sourceGoogle Play  | Email this | Comments

Foursquare brings nearby check-ins back to BlackBerry and iPhone, saves our pub crawls

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Foursquare brings nearby checkins back to BlackBerry and iPhone, will never let you miss a pub crawl again

The Foursquare 5.0 revamp wasn't all good news for some of the location service's most loyal fans: the design quietly scrapped the option to only see check-ins from nearby friends. After much clamoring, Foursquare has found a way to tuck it back in, starting with BlackBerry and iPhone users. A pull or a tap now filters between check-ins worldwide and just those from friends gallivanting around town -- just in case you'd rather not see your international friends enjoying the weekend before you do. Android phone owners will have to take Foursquare's word that their update is "coming soon," but those who can get it today on other platforms will likely appreciate knowing exactly when it's time to join friends at that fourth consecutive bar.

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Foursquare brings nearby check-ins back to BlackBerry and iPhone, saves our pub crawls originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 09 Aug 2012 23:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Foursquare Blog  |  sourceApp Store, BlackBerry App World  | Email this | Comments

Nokia wants to become the ‘where?’ company, Lumias to become sensor masters

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Nokia's Stephen Elop at CES 2012

Nokia is still taking its lumps in earnings, but CEO Stephen Elop has an idea as to how the troubled phone giant can carve out its slice of the smartphone market: like a real estate agent, it's all about location, location, location. As he outlined in the company's fiscal results call, the aim is to make Nokia the "where?" company -- the go-to for location-based services, whether it's Drive, Transport or anything else that locks in on our whereabouts. Facebook and Google are the "who?" and "what?" companies, Elop says. He also imagines that his own firm "could be a leader" in sensors as a whole, tracking subtler cues like the owner's pulse rate. Whether or not Nokia puts itself in front through positioning, the executive gave a small tease of the future during the call -- the next wave of Lumia phones will have "more differentiation," and both Windows Phone 7.8 as well as Windows Phone 8 will make their way to budget Nokia hardware.

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Nokia wants to become the 'where?' company, Lumias to become sensor masters originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 Jul 2012 10:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceSlashGear  | Email this | Comments

New Recce 3D map app offers location-based services and games, Sim City possibilities abound

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DNP New Recce 3D map app offers locationbased services and games

The mapping scene has seen plenty of activity lately -- what with Apple ditching Google to launch its own service while the latter continues to layer on improvements such as better walking directions and more Street View coverage for its maps. Now a new app called "Recce" is trying to elbow its way into the conversation by using a free, searchable 3D mapping system that not only serves up location-based services but also location-based games. Named after military slang for "reconnaissance," Recce is the brainchild of former Psygnosis co-founder Ian Hetherington and Google engineering director Rian Liebenberg, who formed London-based developer eeGeo. The app works by pulling together a slew of data feeds from sources such as map providers and social networking services to provide an interactive 3D view of an area. It can also be used to update services like Twitter so your followers can know exactly where you were when you saw Justin Johnson, er, Bieber speeding away from the paparazzi in his chrome Fisker Karma. Do note that data is limited to central London at the moment, though San Francisco and New York are slated to get their 3D closeup next.

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New Recce 3D map app offers location-based services and games, Sim City possibilities abound originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 16 Jul 2012 09:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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IndoorAtlas uses disturbances in the (geomagnetic) force to map interiors, plot a path to aisle 3 (video)

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IndoorAtlas uses disturbances in the geomagnetic force to map interiors, keep us on track in aisle 3 video

Interior navigation is only just coming into its own, but IndoorAtlas has developed a technology that could make it just as natural as breathing -- or at least, firing up a smartphone's mapping software. Developed by a team at Finland's University of Oulu, the method relies on identifying the unique geomagnetic field of every location on Earth to get positioning through a mobile device. It's not just accurate, to less than 6.6 feet, but can work without help from wireless signals and at depths that would scare off mere mortal technologies: IndoorAtlas has already conducted tests in a mine 4,593 feet deep. Geomagnetic location-finding is already available through an Android API, with hints of more platforms in the future. It will still need some tender loving care from app developers before we're using our smartphones to navigate through the grocery store as well as IndoorAtlas does in a video after the break.

Continue reading IndoorAtlas uses disturbances in the (geomagnetic) force to map interiors, plot a path to aisle 3 (video)

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IndoorAtlas uses disturbances in the (geomagnetic) force to map interiors, plot a path to aisle 3 (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 09 Jul 2012 15:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink ArcticStartup  |  sourceIndoorAtlas  | Email this | Comments

BAE Systems’ NAVSOP does positioning without GPS, makes sure the only jammin’ going on is yours

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BAE Systems' NAVSOP can do positioning without GPS, makes sure the only jammin' going on is your own

Just in case GPS and GLONASS didn't make for enough of an acronym soup, BAE Systems wants to add one more to the navigation broth. NAVSOP (Navigation via Signals of Opportunity) uses some of the basic concepts we know from cell tower triangulation and WiFi location-finding to lock down a position, but goes much further to geolocate from nearly anything that pushes out a signal, such as nearby radios and TVs. It doesn't even need to know what kind of signal it's looking at, and it can get its position in places there's no GPS to work from, whether it's in an urban canyon or the natural kind. BAE is most excited about the prospects of ending GPS jamming against soldiers and UAVs, once and for all: not only is the new technology mostly impervious to attempts to block its signal, it can use the jamming attempt itself to get the position fix. Thankfully, the company's roots in defense aren't precluding use for civilians, so there's a chance that future smartphones might never have to use guesswork to get their bearings -- provided that governments around the world sign off on the idea, that is.

BAE Systems' NAVSOP does positioning without GPS, makes sure the only jammin' going on is yours originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 30 Jun 2012 10:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Flickr brings in Nokia map data for precise geotagged photos, Instagram shots just got eerily accurate

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Flickr brings in Nokia map data for extraprecise geotagged photos, Instagram shots just got eerily accurate

Open Street Map has been helping Flickr display geotagged shots for some time. That crowdsourced map data has led to more than a few photos being located in a gray blob, however, which is why Yahoo just struck a deal to put Nokia maps into as many nooks and crevices of the world as possible. The addition will make sure that Instagram photo tour of Africa is often accurate down to the street corner, not to mention give a slightly Finland-tinged look to the maps themselves. Open Street Map isn't going away, but it's now being used only for those areas where regular coverage is spotty or non-existent. The images already apply to any existing and upcoming uploads -- there will be no question that self-portrait was taken in Tanzania.

Flickr brings in Nokia map data for precise geotagged photos, Instagram shots just got eerily accurate originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 29 Jun 2012 12:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink The Next Web  |  sourceFlickr Blog  | Email this | Comments

Google drops cost of Maps API to keep developers, gives Foursquare puppy eyes (update: potentially cheaper)

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Google drops cost of Maps API to keep developers, gives Foursquare puppy eyes

Google must be feeling the pinch from developers like Foursquare who've jumped ship from Google Maps in opposition to costs, as it just cut the price of heavy Maps API use in a big, big way. Where it used to cost $4 for every 1,000 map hits beyond a 25,000 daily limit, the company is now charging as little as $1 in addition to eliminating the lower usage cap for app writers who tweak the map look. The olive branch won't make Apple change its mind, of course, but Google clearly isn't keen on anyone else using the price tag as an incentive to join the exodus. Mountain View is no doubt eager to keep as many mobile and web app developers on its side as it can -- with Google I/O just around the corner, it wouldn't do to have customers leaving at the very moment Google is trying to rally support for a big Maps update.

Update: As some of you have pointed out the comments, it can get as low as 50 cents per 1,000 map loads. We've been using the API version 2 price as the baseline, but it's true that if you only need version 3 or one of the more limited static or Street View calls, you can pay half as much.

Google drops cost of Maps API to keep developers, gives Foursquare puppy eyes (update: potentially cheaper) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 23 Jun 2012 15:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink TechCrunch  |  sourceGoogle Geo Developers Blog  | Email this | Comments