The Modern Journalist

The World is One Big Location

I’m working on a story about Dash — which I wrote about last week on the blog — for TechNewsWorld. Along the way, I came across a company called Where, which makes software widgets for you mobile phone that enables people to locate a variety of businesses thanks to GPS.

I’ve stolen a list of things that you might do, assuming your phone’s service provider works with the company. (There’s a list on the site.). So, what can you do:

• local — search locally for points of interest around you
• directions — get directions and maps from where you are to where you want to go… or from anywhere
• saved places — save your favorite places to easily access them in the future and share them with friends
• location notes — write notes about the places you’ve been for others to find, or keep them private if you don’t share well
• weather — get the local weather for your location
• ski report — local ski reports
• earthquake! — find the most recent earthquakes by proximity
• world largest — a fairly comprehensive list of America’s huge roadside attractions
• fore! — golf course finder
• roadside help — towing service and repair shops
• state parks – enjoy your local state parks
• winery finder — take a wine tour at your local wineries
• rent a car – you know you want to
• brewery finder — get to know your local breweries
• nexrad radar — see your local nexrad radar

I also spoke with an analyst from the Yankee Group who discussed the new camera applications that add geo-location tags to pictures, allowing you to easily map out your trips. All of which reminded me of the Trackstick, the geo-location device you can plug into your computer to map where you have traveled.

These seem like they should be standard issue equipment for all journalists. You go, gather information, dump it into your database, which is attached to your story so that you can display the information in a variety of ways.

I know how I use Twitter, for instance. How cool would it be for a news organization to allow people to track reporters in real time? I realize the issues that would come up with that. I’m not saying that every story should have that tracking capability.  But even a dim-witted editor could come up with about 15 very cool geo-location stories without putting much time and effort into it.

Then, you simply announce on the site when the story will begin — and boom. You’re off to the races.