Sessions at SXSW Interactive 2011 about Geo on Sunday 13th March

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• Building Fences in the Sky: Geo-Fencing Has Arrived

  by Alistair Goodman

  Imagine walking past your favorite restaurant, and receiving a coupon for a free dessert. Imagine jogging through Central Park, taking a break, and receiving a text from The North Face about a trail nearby that you’ve never taken but sounds great. These scenarios aren’t set in the future, but happening today, and are made possible through geo-fencing, the location-based technology pioneered by Placecast. Through geo-fencing, Placecast creates virtual fences around physical locations – stores, entertainment venues, parks, apartment buildings – literally anywhere on Earth.

  The technology is described here by the NYTimes http://www.vscconsulting.com/pla... and here in the WSJ: http://www.vscconsulting.com/pla...

  This session will provide data-backed information and dispel myths around location-based services (LBS). The audience will learn:

  1) How to go about starting a location-based program utilizing geo-fence technology
  2) Challenges and best practices in LBS
  3) How geo-fences are being used today, including case studies from major brands such as The North Face, American Eagle Outfitters, SONIC
  4) How privacy/security issues are handled

  Location-based services can offer information, discounts, alerts, and more – all making our lives easier, and bringing the messages we want directly to mobile phones via SMS. The possibilities for geo-fencing are immense, and we’ve only begun to tap into them.

  LEVEL: Beginner

  • Geo
  • Location Based Services
  • Privacy

  At 11:00am to 12:00pm, Sunday 13th March

  In Salon F/G, Hilton Austin Downtown

• The Man in the Van Needs Geo Location

  by Chris Hutchins, Marcus Nelson and Ryan Kuder

  There are lots of obvious geo-location use cases for consumers. But how can enterprises benefit from geo-location apps? Everyone knows the man in the van – they are installing your cable, technicians fixing heavy equipment in the field, landscaping office parks, repairing medical devices on-site and more. Shouldn’t those businesses be able to benefit from mobile apps that are geo-location aware? Whether they need to pick up and install a new fetzer valve or simply need to know where there next job is, there’s no reason why they can’t benefit from what Gowalla, DoubleDutch and foursquare have done for consumers.

  LEVEL: Intermediate

  • Foursquare
  • Geo
  • Geolocation
  • Gowalla
  • Location

  At 12:30pm to 1:30pm, Sunday 13th March

  In Salon F/G, Hilton Austin Downtown