DISCLAIMER: I work for the Yahoo Developer Network
Yahoo recently released an updated version of the Where On Earth (WOE) API for Where 2.0 (more info at http://developer.yahoo.com/geo/).
It's pretty cool, I especially like the way that WOE deals with hierarchy in places. So a street address is normally part of neighbourhood or area of a city, which is part of a state, etc.
One of my other favourite projects at Y! at the moment is also about LBS. Fireagle is one of the Brickhouse projects, so those guys are actually based in San Francisco. http://fireeagle.yahoo.net is still invite only, but that's mostly to hide it from consumers until it's ready to go. Fireeagle acts as middlewear, allowing users to update their location in lots of ways through an API (Text string, GPS units, Cell phone via services like Navizon, etc) and then share is with apps of their choice. This means that the user only has to update Fireeagle to update all their apps.
It also means app developers don't need to provide lots of ways to specify location. They can just use Fireeagle and forget about the rest.
I have some invites so if you have a good idea let me know and I'll hook you up.
Yahoo recently released an updated version of the Where On Earth (WOE) API for Where 2.0 (more info at http://developer.yahoo.com/geo/).
It's pretty cool, I especially like the way that WOE deals with hierarchy in places. So a street address is normally part of neighbourhood or area of a city, which is part of a state, etc.
One of my other favourite projects at Y! at the moment is also about LBS. Fireagle is one of the Brickhouse projects, so those guys are actually based in San Francisco. http://fireeagle.yahoo.net is still invite only, but that's mostly to hide it from consumers until it's ready to go. Fireeagle acts as middlewear, allowing users to update their location in lots of ways through an API (Text string, GPS units, Cell phone via services like Navizon, etc) and then share is with apps of their choice. This means that the user only has to update Fireeagle to update all their apps.
It also means app developers don't need to provide lots of ways to specify location. They can just use Fireeagle and forget about the rest.
I have some invites so if you have a good idea let me know and I'll hook you up.