Location-based services 09

Site: Earth.google.com Category: Location-based services

Google Earth is a desktop software program that lets users browse and search the Earth and its topography. The program takes advantage of specially created data layers that can add all sorts of features to the surface of the Earth, including local landmarks, businesses, and any other set of data that have been specially coded to match up with the Earth's geography.

In addition to static layers, Google Earth is also capable of displaying moving sets of data, a feature that has been used to show changes to Earth over time, both … Read more

Site: PolicyMap.com Category: Location-based services

PolicyMap is a collection of more than 4,000 data sets that can be overlayed on top of maps. Users simply pick what data they want to see from drop-down menus, and they show up instantly.

It can locate superfund sites; show you crime stats; tell you about mortgage originations (including things like subprime mortgages to various demographic groups), and age and educational background. The data is at a variety of resolutions (some are per ZIP code, some by census tract) and timeliness (census data, for instance, is only current up to 2000).

PolicyMap … Read more

Site: FlightStats.com Category: Location-based services

FlightStats mashes up the real-time flight information with Google Maps. Like other flight trackers, it shows scheduled departure and landing times, as well as actual take-off and projected landing. It will also send you e-mail or SMS alerts if the flight status changes, which is highly useful if your carrier or Web ticketing service doesn't offer such a feature.

FlightStats also has a very good mobile-friendly site and applications for certain handsets. It's the one you'll use when you're hanging around in the airport wondering just how far away a … Read more

Site: Maps.live.com Category: Location-based services

Live Search Maps is Microsoft's online mapping service. Users can look up a location by address and get directions, complete with recent traffic reports that can change its estimation of how long it will take. It also uses a technology called ClearFlow that anticipates traffic based on past history of backups at specific times and dates.

Live Search maps was one of the first services to offer 3D views of certain buildings, and now has close to 70 of them. To see these maps in the browser, users must install a special … Read more

Site: TripIt.com Category: Location-based services

TripIt is a personal travel organizer aimed at both casual and business users. If you forward your electronic travel confirmations (from an airline, car company, hotel, etc.) to it, TripIt will intelligently collate them all into one place, parse the information, and add related information as well, such as maps, weather, events, and photos of where you're going. The goal being to replace all your pages of printed confirmations with a single online page that has all the relevant info nicely organized for you.

Along with its site, the service has applications for … Read more

Site: OpenTable.com Category: Location-based services

OpenTable is an online reservation service. It lets people find reservations at local restaurants and book them from their computer or mobile phone; all the while, not having to use the traditional system of calling or visiting the restaurants in person.

Along with its reservation system, OpenTable also maintains a database of restaurant information and reviews from both its users and partners. Similar to Yelp and CitySearch, this lets people recommend or discourage restaurants in OpenTable's database. Those reviews show up to other users when they do a search or while they plan … Read more

Site: Yelp.com Category: Location-based services

Yelp is an online reviews service for local eateries and attractions. Users can leave reviews for any business they've been to, including photos and personal anecdotes. Yelp then gives the establishment a 1-5 star rating based on the total number of user ratings, which makes it easy to find out whether or not a restaurant is worth going to.

Yelp's service can also be found on mobile devices, both as a mobile-friendly Web app and a native client where users can pen in the beginnings of a new review while out and … Read more

Site: Google.com/goog411 Category: Location-based services

Goog411 (1-800-GOOG-411) was introduced in early 2007 as a way to access Google search results on your mobile phone. It's the equivalent of dialing 411, but it's free, and pulls multiple listings like the ones you'd get from a search in Google Maps. Mobile phone users can get listings sent to their phone via SMS, including telephone numbers and full addresses. You can also be connected to a business for free.

The entire service runs off voice-recognition technology, which has since been baked into other Google products, including Google's … Read more

Site: Topix.com Category: Location-based services

On news site Topix.com, users apply for the job of editor for a topic or a community and once approved, they can add stories, move stories around on the page, and remove the stories that the Topix "roboblogger" has added. Designated editors also can write their own stories for a topic, and even submit them from a mobile phone.

Noneditors can comment on stories and submit them to a topic's editors for later inclusion. In this way it's more like USA Today than Digg. In either case, it's … Read more