Location Based Services awards announced

Last night in Auckland, student Matt Weston clinched the grand prize in the first Location Based Services Awards, a competition run by GeoSmart and AA Maps. Matt's winning entry, GetSomewhere, is a public transport assistant application for mobile devices.

Using GPS mapping capabilities, GetSomewhere is designed to plan your route, tell you what services will get you there, notify you in real time where on its route your bus or other mode of transport is, and even if your current walking pace will get you to the stop or station in time to catch the service. GetSomewhere also includes a ticketing service so you can purchase via your mobile phone, instead of having to have the right cash.

Matt says he designed the application because getting relevant public transport information was currently too confusing, and in the long term he hoped the convenience offered by GetSomewhere would encourage more people to use public transport.

As part of his prize, Matt will attend the Where 2.0 Conference in San Jose, California in May. Where 2.0 is dedicated to the advancement of "location aware" technologies.

Matt's application is currently a concept only, but Luigi Cappel of GeoSmart said the technologies existed today to build such applications, and he would be surprised if GetSomewhere wasn't available before the end of the year.

The night also produced a number of category winners.

The award for Domestic Tourism went to Adam Taylor and Antony Bell from the TBWA/Whybin Tequila agency for their Tom Tom Tour Guide application.

AA Maps Widget winner was Neil McCallum for his House Mouse application designed to help house hunters.
Neil said he was inspired , but not in a good way, by his own experience of house hunting that involved visiting homes with real estate agents that were neither what he was looking for or where he was wanting to buy.
House Mouse pulls house listings into a mapping application and also rates them according the user's input criteria, like the number of bedrooms and the location. It can then plan a day of house visits based on the most efficient route around town and the homes best fitting a user's wishes.

The social networking prize went to TBWA/Whybin Tequila once again for the Facebook Carpool Tree. This application removes the difficulty of organising a carpool by using Facebook to put users in touch with other potential carpoolers based on where they live and work.

More information about the awards can be found at locationinnovation.co.nz.