Understanding Geo-Tagging

"Geotagging is the process of adding geographical identification meta data to various media such as photographs, video, websites, SMS messages or RSS feeds." 

(Wikipedia)

This has some great benefits to Smartphone users, mainly as a way of finding information while out on the road. For example, Google Maps has an embedded feature that allows users to open a map, have their location pinpointed, and then find out what particular stores are nearby, depending on the user's search parameters.

Software for geo-tagging is based on a Smartphone's GPS capabilities and embeds the image's latitude and longitude into the meta tag of the image itself - this is only able to be viewed by specific programs that are designed to use this particular information.

For those of us who use our Smartphones to get around, find convenient stores or restaurants in unfamiliar cities, or even just like to know where we are, this is a fantastic option in our devices.

So for those of you that don't like others to know where you are, and vehemently avoid the use of programs such as FourSquare or Places on Facebook, remember that every time you upload an image to your social media feeds, or even send a text message to friends, your device will let them know just where you are. Whether you like it or not - it even goes for regular cell phone users in terms of text (SMS) messages.

This also stands as a warning to those that are quite happy utilizing these services - your images being innocently uploaded can give away your home location or other sensitive information. By all means, upload pictures of last weekend's party at the local bar, but remember to keep the private stuff private...

Facebook Launches "Places" - Huge Impact for Wireless Users

Originally posted September 30, 2010


On August 19, Facebook created a new service through its site called Places. This pits the social networking giant against existing location-based applications such as FourSquare.


The new feature aims at helping existing users find friends and their locations in real time, and actually works with the existing services such as FourSquare. The advantage for Facebook is that is doesn't have to find new userts - it's 500 million users have access to this new option.


This is another addition to the social networking site's move to monetize its network usage, particularly among its mobile users. More than one quarter of Facebook users access the site from their Smartphones, and this allows the site to promote the use of mobile coupons for various services (as FourSquare currently does).


Facebook's Places essentially turns a user's Smartphone into a combination of GPS, social network (the world’s biggest), loyalty card, ad space and coupon dispenser - things that will potentially draw millions of retailers to start offering real-time, location based deals to users.


Of course, this comes with its fair share of concerns about privacy, but unlike the release of Places in other regions, such as the US, Facebook users have the option to turn this feature off if they don't wish to participate. It remains to be seen how successful this new feature will be, but with the increase in Smartphone users growing every day, it is only a matter of time before Places touches millions.