Press Release
June 7, 2005
Survey the Location Technology Frontier at Where 2.0, a New O'Reilly Conference
Sebastopol, CA--Location-aware technologies combined with mapping and
other data are poised to create a whole new class of web apps and
services. Hackers and researchers are mashing up Google maps with
everything from Craigslist to Chicago crime stats. Automakers are
incorporating restaurant addresses into their car's navigational screens
so drivers can spontaneously find sushi. Maps are becoming an interface,
helping us to visualize and access other forms of data. Call centers,
insurance agencies, transportation companies, and retailers are finding
unconventional internal uses for location technologies too.
But where is location-based technology leading us in the larger sense? And
while it's fertile ground for hackers and researchers now, where's the
business model beef? Where 2.0, a new O'Reilly conference taking place
June 29-30 in San Francisco, brings together the people, projects, and
issues at the center of this technological frontier to debate and discuss
what's viable now, and what's lurking just below the radar.
"Where 2.0 will make it obvious that web developers are the new market for
geospatial tech," observes conference co-chair Nathan Torkington. "Map
systems, satellite imagery, and yellow page information are all being made
available to web hackers, with major corporate players in a race to offer
the best platform to these developers. The GIS industry is watching very
closely to see how this plays out."
Microsoft MapPoint general manager Stephen Lawler has joined the Where 2.0
speaker roster and will discuss Microsoft's mapping and location
strategies, and tools for businesses, developers, and consumers. "The
Where 2.0 conference is an excellent forum for the mapping community to
discuss the future of mapping for businesses and consumers. Our goal is
to continue to break down the barriers associated with location technology
and offer a wide array of products and services that help people and
businesses be more effective."
Other notable speakers and topics include:
Mary Foltz, director of Location Solutions Product Line Management for Nextel, identifies obstacles to the mobile development platform
Stephen Randall, co-founder of Symbian and CEO of LocaModa, discusses mobile marketing
Paul Rademacher, creator of the Google Maps-craigslist mash-up
Entrepreneur and researcher Ramesh Jain demos his current project (launching soon) that serves as an internet portal to events and the media they generate
Greg Sadetsky, who mashed-up Google Maps-Yahoo! Traffic
Panelists from Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo! face off over local search, moderated by John Battelle
New Zealander Philip Lindsay, who wrote the Google Maps Standalone Mode and myGmaps, is leading the charge for developers to build their own mash-ups
NavTeq's Bob Denaro describes how NavTeq drivers travel every street in America to gather the road and route data that every online web portal uses
JC Herz presents the system she built for intelligence analysts to order satellite photos and tag and annotate them for other analysts
MIT's Nathan Eagle, whose soon-to-be-released research project collected 500,000 hours of data on cellphone use, calls, locations, applications, etc., will tell us what they learned, and what it reveals about us
Balaji Prasad from EDS explicates in-car location based services like OnStar and NeverLost
Open source geo tools hacker Tyler Mitchell tell us what apps and services are available right now--free of charge
Microsoft, Google, and Yahoo! have joined Telcontar as conference
sponsors, another indication of increased activity and interest in the
location and mapping space. The conference's exhibit hall will showcase
state-of-the-art systems, tools, and services pouring into the location
arena.
Where 2.0 also features the Where Fair, a science fair-style event that
gives participants a first-hand look at a few of the intriguing
location-aware technologies before they go mainstream. Fair-goers can
discuss the ideas behind the demos with the creators, and learn how these
unconventional new technologies can be adapted into existing business
strategies. Where Fair projects are being drawn from research labs,
academia, and yet-to-be-discovered entrepreneurs.
Conference co-chair Nathan Torkington of O'Reilly Media, Inc. and co-chair
David Sonnen of iSpatial are building a conference program that allows
participants to quickly grasp both the current state of affairs and the
far-reaching effects and implications around these transformational
location-based technologies and services. Where 2.0 is a ripe opportunity
to meet the people behind the innovations and see projects that have the
potential to fundamentally transform how location information is viewed,
interpreted, and delivered.
The O'Reilly conference line-up also includes ETech, the O'Reilly Emerging
Technology Conference; the O'Reilly Open Source Convention; Web 2.0,
co-hosted by Tim O'Reilly and John Battelle, and co-produced with
MediaLive International; the O'Reilly European Open Source Convention; and
the MySQL Users Conference, co-presented with MySQL AB. O'Reilly
conferences bring together forward-thinking business and technology
leaders, shaping ideas and influencing industries around the globe. For
over 25 years, O'Reilly has facilitated the adoption of new and important
technologies by the enterprise, putting emerging technologies on the map.
Additional Resources:
Related Reading:
Sponsorship Information:
About O'Reilly
O'Reilly Media spreads the knowledge of innovators through its books, online services, magazines, and conferences. Since 1978, O'Reilly Media has been a chronicler and catalyst of cutting-edge development, homing in on the technology trends that really matter and spurring their adoption by amplifying "faint signals" from the alpha geeks who are creating the future. An active participant in the technology community, the company has a long history of advocacy, meme-making, and evangelism.
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