Photo Essay: Location Apps Battle, Geeks Gather at SXSW

Every March, the city of Austin, Texas, welcomes the world for its annual South by Southwest Festival, otherwise known as SXSW. The festival consists of three parts: SXSW Interactive, a four-day geekfest for the Internet community; SXSW Film, ten days of international cinema programs; and SXSW Music, a four day non-stop celebration of live music.

The Interactive section, known as SXSWi, is always a prime spot for the early adoption of new online technology. This year’s edition featured a showdown between location-based applications href=”http://www.twitter.com/gowalla” title=”Location Based Application Smartphone Austin Texas”>Gowalla and Foursquare, as well as the debut of href=”http://maps.google.com/maps?hq=http://maps.google.com/help/maps/directions/biking/mapplet.kml&ie=UTF8&ll=37.687624,-122.319717&spn=0.346132,0.727158&z=11&lci=bike&dirflg=b&f=d&utm_campaign=en&utm_medium=van&utm_source=en-van-na-us-gns-bd”
title=”Google Bike Maps Bicycling Directions”>Google Bike Maps, and examples of citizen journalism at its geekiest.

Below is a recap of SXSW Interactive 2010 by Vancouver-based photographer Kris Krüg.

title=”sxsw-mobile-social-bike-0844 by kk+, on Flickr”> src=”http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4064/4434817145_4bc8731187.jpg”
width=”500″ height=”333″ alt=”sxsw-mobile-social-bike-0844″ />

The talk of SXSWi was Gowalla versus Foursquare.These applications use the GPS on your smartphone to allow you to check-in at locations, earn points for your travels, and connect with friends. Austin-based Gowalla appeared to be the crowd favorite, though Foursquare seemed to win in terms of user numbers.

Go to Photo 2 ->