Watch out iPhone: new geo tech now available for other phone makers

23 Nov 2008

A new start-up has created a new geo-tagging social networking technology that uses a wireless positioning system (WPS) to allow accuracy to 15 feet indoors; up until now only available on the iPhone 3G.

The start-up Tagggit.com is led by Loughlan Spollen who sold his apartment a year ago to fund the company and has worked all day, every day since. His co-founder is graphic designer John Fogarty.

Tagggit recently launched a new version of its mobile application, the second application ever to deliver an accurate wireless positioning system on mobile phones after the iPhone 3G

Tagggit have termed the wireless positioning system “City Mode” as it functions in metropolitan areas. Spollen says the technology functions perfectly in built-up urban cities.

“Tagggit is a geo-tagging social network. The idea is people who live in large cities move around those cities to meet friends/family and to do business. They don’t and can’t know the entire city. However, they can tag the city. Tagging the city allows them to remember where they found a good parking spot, where they found a good coffee shop, etc.

“They can share those tags with friends and search for their friend’s recommendation tags. They can keep their tags private or share them. They can join communities share tags with people who have similar interests. Naturally, London will be my target market as Tagggit is most useful in such a large urban area.

Loughlin describes this release “a major milestone for us as Tagggit members no longer have to wait for a GPS fix or stand outside to create and search for tags.” Tagggit now produces instant results without a notable delay. Tagggit members can find their location and the tags in their vicinity without waiting on a GPS fix.

Tagggit also announced that it has come out of restricted beta testing and membership is now open to the general public at www.tagggit.com

Spollen says Tagggit is the first time a WPS was successfully deployed on any mobile phone other than the iPhone and according to the company’s website it works on seven Nokia devices (including the N95 and N96) as well as the Samsung i550.

“I have integrated a WPS that can find the phone’s position indoors, within seconds and accurate to 15 feet. So members don’t have to hang around waiting on a GPS fix. When a WPS fix is not available, my mobile application falls back on GPS.”

Spollen says Tagggit is at its most useful in large cities and is currently used by members to find each other in downtown areas and to leave recommendations and surprise tags for friends.

“However GPS is not good in built-up areas. This latest release of our mobile software will help us change the way urbanites use their phones.”

By John Kennedy

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com