• At Mobile World Congress (MWC), Location Labs today announced the availability of its geofencing platform, opening it to all developers who want to build geofencing into their apps. Developers can now register for a free developer account and look at Location Lab’s geofencing APIs. Location Labs is also building a cloud-based service called Spatial Storage, which allows developers to integrate third-party location data from Maponics.
• On Monday, Xtify, a location-based marketing company, released its Smart Notifications Platform, an online tool that allows customers to push notifications simultaneously on iPhone, Android and Blackberry smartphones. The notification can be triggered by location, time, past user behavior and other criteria.
• Skyhook announced this week that it had signed a licensing deal with Intel to make its Core Engine hybrid location platform available to Intel App developers for the Intel AppUp center. That means developers will be able to tap Skyhook’s location technology for their apps for Windows and upcoming MeeGo based products.
• Last week, Loc-Aid said in its million funding announcement that it has signed up AT&T , Verizon Wireless, Sprint and T-Mobile in the last year and is the only location-based service aggregator integrated in all four carriers. The company allows developers to tap into all of the major carriers network-based location data through one API. That’s helpful for targeting not only smartphones, but also feature phones, especially devices without GPS.

Now this is just a look at some recent announcements, and some are limited in scope. But it suggests that the tools are falling into place for developers to more easily build robust location into their apps. We’ve seen a lot of location-based apps like Foursquare and mobile shopping apps, but there’s no reason why location can’t be a feature on even more apps. “Location is very hot, but location-as-a-service is even hotter,” Loc-Aid CEO Rip Gerber told me.

Consumers may be less familiar with check-in services, but they’re increasingly comfortable with location services. A recent Microsoft survey found that half of those surveyed had used a location service, though that includes GPS navigation. App makers are taking note. A survey last month of developers by Appcelerator and IDC found that location (78 percent) is the second most popular feature that app developers intended to include in their upcoming apps. The question is how will they choose to implement it? Many are utilizing GPS, but as location becomes even more important, many developers and brands are looking to augment GPS with other options.

Skyhook has been aggressive in courting developers with its hybrid Wi-Fi, GPS and cell-tower technology and announced that it has signed up Citysearch, who will use Skyhook technology on its Android apps. But there are plenty of other players including platform makers Google and Apple, who are also pursuing their own location technology. What it all means is that the location-as-a-service market is poised to boom as more and developers and companies see location as a standard feature.

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GigaOMTech

By Shane McGlaun

I wanted to be an astronaut when I was a kid right until the point where I found out that you really needed to be in the military for a shot. The thought of getting ordered around was more than my 8-year-old brain could take so I settled for a telescope.

My old telescope was just about impossible to use. Meade has a new scope that will turn anyone into an astronomy buff called the ETX-LS. The telescope is fully automated and will set itself using GPS and other technologies and take users on a tour of the night sky.

The automated technology is called LightSwitch, determines the location, time, and date of the telescope, compiles a real-time map of the night sky for your location, and then takes you on a guided tour with audio thanks to Astronomer-inside tech. The telescope sells for $1299 with SC optics or $1499 with ACF optics.

[ Meade ]