Yahoo! releases platform for location-based services
One of the hottest trends in mobile technology is location-based services. Smart phones can tell your friends and your application where you are. Applications like social networking tools, restaurant review sites, and blogging tools are all clamoring to use your location as a selling point. However, many people are wary of these broadcasts; while you might be fine with your best friend tracking you on a map, it might be a different story if your boss or parents were doing the same.
Yahoo! has found an answer to this problem which helps not only users but also the applications with location-based services. Fire Eagle is a free service which can help users choose what level of location information their applications can access. For example, you may want Wikinear, an application which shows you points of interest in your vicinity, to see your exact location. On the other hand, you may want Facebook’s mobile app to see only your city or ZIP code.
Yahoo! emphasizes the security in using Fire Eagle as a filter between various application and your location. “Fire Eagle allows you to share your locations with other sites and services safely through a secure server - you are always in control.” By assuring users that they are always able to pick and choose the level of service, Fire Eagle has the potential to attract a large following.
Fire Eagle has a good chance of being adopted and developed for a wide variety of mobile applications. In addition to being free for users, it’s also open to developers. That way, companies who launch applications that could benefit from location-based services can adapt the platform for their offerings. As Fire Eagle’s website explains, “By doing the heavy lifting for you and connecting you to a community of geo-developers, Fire Eagle makes it easier to build location-aware services.”
Depending on the detail of the application at hand, you may even be able to specify which online friends can see your location and which can’t. That way, if you’re meeting up with a group at an outdoor concert or festival, or just going for a jog, friends in the area can join you spontaneously. This type of functionality is likely to be a breakout success story in coming years, as mobile technology reaches an even broader audience.
Yahoo!’s Fire Eagle is available to any users and developers. The service currently exists on 50 applications, which are profiled on their website. As location-based services expand in number and features, look for more platforms like Fire Eagle in the future.
By Haley January Eckels