Location, Based, Search, Comes, Bangkok

Sysomos, the media intelligence agency that ranked the world’s most active countries on Twitter  (see here), has announced FourWhere, a service it believes is “the first step to bringing local buzz together.”

FourWhere is essentially a mash up (coming together) of FourSquare and Google Maps to allow “easy” navigation of and access to the ever-growing collection of location-based information.

Details are below.

FourWhere, a new and free location-based social search service…mashes-up locations and comments from Foursquare with the Google Maps API.

FourWhere is simple to use; you start by providing your location (city or address), and then right-click on the map to see the places where Foursquare users have been and any tips and comments they’ve left about particular places.

The announces implies but does not explicitly confirm that other services like Yelp and Gowalla are included.

It seems that it is just FourSquare for now with more services being introduced over time as the company has pledged to regularly update data and “enhance the service by adding content analytics and more real-time information from other social media sources using Sysomos’ extensive content database.”

The prospect is interesting as the data comes instantly easier to use than the current alternative of text based recommendations and data.

This type of service provides a real and tanigble incentive for consumer-facing businesses, like shops and stores, to build a presence on FourSquare.

Catering and entertainment business, in particular, may see additional customers (and sales) from those spontaneous using the service nearby.

FourWhere is up and running for Bangkok, though from initial look there appears to be a problem rendering Thai script. There is also the issue of duplicate and misspelt locations, see here for more, but for now the service is at least up and running.