Urban Mapping Blog » LBS

MetaPlaces = Locatition Data + Services + Conference + San Jose

Ian — Mon, 04 May 2009 14:50:04 +0000

Umibot has been helping the producers of this September’s MetaPlaces with programming decisions. We’re excited in that this show looks beyond web-based technologies–it asks the question how any of this makes money. In an increasingly mobile world with distribution mattering beyond all else, how can a vendor of content survive? Should carriers cede power and partner more nimble players who have a faster time to market?

We’ve argued that location doesn’t matter for a while. You read this correctly. The reason is that everything that can be located, will be. Location has become a commodity. LBS providers on their own offer a simple service that’s available through a variety of methods. There is no holy grail of location. The relevance, value and opportunity is what one does with location–translating lng/lat into something human-readable, and making it actionable, perishable and tied to a transaction is where this is going.

That’s the teaser. Hoping you can join us in San Jose, September 22 and 23.

Skyhook Wireless Integrates Urban Mapping Neighborhood Data

Ian — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 13:30:17 +0000

Today Urban Mapping and Skyhook Wireless announce an exciting partnership that incorporates UMI’s neighborhood boundary data into Loki™, a location-based search and navigation toolbar that leverages the Skyhook Wireless positioning system, delivering the most relevant content and services based on a user location. This location-based search and navigation toolbar is able to share geo-relevant information defining user location with contextually appropriate and socially accepted neighborhood areas.

Loki also offers a service, called MyLoki, that allows a user to take their current location and broadcast it to a number of services so that they can share it with friends and family. The MyLoki service also includes an application for Facebook, Twitter integration, a Location Feed (RSS) and map badge for personal blogs.

Skyhook Wireless plans to also offer Urban Mapping’s neighborhood data though a software developer kit (SDK) for non-commercial use. With this service, developers can create accurate, location-relevant interactive applications pinpointing user location through Skyhook Wireless’ WPS technology coupled with neighborhood boundary data from Urban Mapping.

- Link to official news

Urban Mapping to Present at Location Based Services 2008

Ian — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 02:27:17 +0000

UMI’s own Ian White will be crossing the pond to Berlin, October 27-30, for IIR’s LBS conference in Germany. Ian will participate on a panel discussion, Can You Find The Way? Where Next For Mapping?” We aren’t sure if IIR is going for “where” or “what,” but that’s what makes panel sessions interesting.

Urban Mapping has been doing a great deal of work behind the scenes, and we’re thrilled with some upcoming announcements about our mass transit initiative.

[Update: Umibot says "First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin!']

UMI University Presents…

urbanmappinginc — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 15:09:00 +0000

Fabien Girardin will be dropping by UMI this Friday for a lunchtime show-and-tell. He’ll give a version of his CHI presentation, “Bridging the Social-technical Gap in Location-aware Computing.”

Here’s the abstract…

Building ubiquitous applications that exploit location requires integrating underlying infrastructure for linking sensors with high-level representation of the measure space to support human activities. However, the real-world constraints limit the efficiency of location technologies. The inherent spatial uncertainty embedded in mobile and location systems constantly challenges the coexistence of digital and physical spaces.

Consequently, the technical mechanisms fail to match the highly flexible, nuanced, and contextual human spatial activities. These discrepancies generate a social-technical gap between what should be socially supported and what can be technically achieved. My research aims at exploring, and hopefully reducing this gap in the context of location-aware computing.

Umibot is thrilled to have him–my master has been corresponding with him for several months and we look forward to a lively exchange of ideas.