Geosocial networking

Geosocial networking is social networking in which geographic services and capabilities such as geocoding and geotagging are used to enable additional social dynamics. User-submitted location data or geolocation techniques can allow social networks to connect and coordinate users with local people or events that match their interests. Geolocation on web-based social network services can be IP-based or use hotspot trilateration. For mobile social networks, texted location information (such as with dodgeball.com) or mobile phone tracking can enable location-based services to enrich social networking.

Geosocial networking can allow users to interact relative to location and time. Web mapping services with geocoding data for places such as streets, buildings, and parks (such as Live Search Maps or Google Maps) can be used with geotagged information (such as meetups, concert events, or nightclub or restaurant reviews) to match a user with a place or event or local group in which to socialize, or enable a group of users to decide on a meeting activity. In disaster scenarios, geosocial networking can allow users to coordinate around collaboratively filtered geotag information on hazards and disaster aid activities to develop a collective situational awareness through an assembly of individual perspectives. This type of geosocial networking is known as collaborative mapping.

As some of the first online communities to adopt geotagging features, the Google Maps community and photo sharing communities such as Flickr and Panoramio are arguably considered early geosocial networks. Video sharing website YouTube updated its service to facilitate geotagging in July 2007.

By 2008, expanded geolocation technologies including cell tower localization became available on services such as Google Maps for Mobile (with the My Location feature), and devices such as digital cameras and camera phones began to integrate features such as Wi-Fi connectivity and GPS navigation into more sophisticated capabilities such as auto-geotagging. The inclusion of geolocation features in the popular iPhone such as My Location in January 2008 (iPhone OS 1.1.3, supplementing the cell tower localization with Wi-Fi Positioning System technology from Skyhook Wireless), and Assisted GPS in July 2008 (iPhone 3G) saw a proliferation of location-based applications on the App Store (>300 by September, 2008), including many centered around mobile social networking.

Geosocial services include discovery-centric services such as Whrrl, Loopt and business review sites such as Yelp.

Some of these services share geographic content through KML, or may be ingested by other geographic display and query software, though feature and attribute editing is typically restricted to the hosted environments.

Because online geosocial networking sites target locally familiar content, participation tends inherently to encourage face to face interaction of users in or around local places.

ee also

*List of social networking websites
*Web 2.0
*Virtual community
*Geographic information system