Posts Tagged ‘User Generated Content’
Augmented Reality: Neue Services mit Wikipedia und Google Earth
20 Oct. 2009 | Author: Antonio De Mitri |
Gleich zwei neue Apps bieten jetzt Augmented Reality (AR) mit dem iPhone an: Sie heißen Wikitude – bislang nur für Android verfügbar – und Cyclopedia. Wissenschaftler in Atlanta tüfteln darüber hinaus an der Einblendung von Videos auf Google Earth.
Die beiden neuen iPhone-Apps funktionieren nur mit dem iPhone 3 GS. Der Grund: Außer GPS braucht das Gerät auch einen Kompass, damit der Dienst weiß, in welche Richtung der Nutzer gerade schaut und welche Einträge er folglich auf dem Display sehen soll. Wikitude zeigt Einträge von Wikipedia und Qype, erlaubt aber über eine Schnittstelle zu Wikitude.me auch User Generated Content. Jeder Nutzer kann also eigene Beiträge für die AR-Plattform schreiben.
Cyclopedia von Chemical Wedding dagegen beschränkt sich ausschließlich auf Wikipedia-Inhalte. Das Überraschende: Die App ist eigentlich gar nicht neu. Es gibt sie schon seit Juli und somit länger als die vermeintlich erste AR-App von Yelp – sie ist mehr oder weniger durch Zufall erst jetzt „entdeckt“ worden, wie Marshall Kirkpatrick in seinem Blog Readwriteweb.com berichtet. Sein Fazit zu den beiden neuen Programmen: Spannend, aber noch nicht augereift. GPS sei noch zu ungenau und der Datenbestand der beiden Dienste noch zu mager.
Unterdessen bastelt das Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta an einer beachtlichen Fortentwicklung von Google Earth. Wissenschaftlern um Kihwan Kim ist es gelungen, Echtzeit-Videos in die Satellitenkarten einzufügen. Der User sieht dann Autos auf einer Straße fahren oder Fußballer in einem Stadion kicken. Allerdings handelt es sich nicht immer um authentische Live-Bilder. Das System zeigt immer nur ein zum betrachteten Standort passendes Video – aber immerhin: ein erster Schritt in Richtung Bewegtbild-AR.
Posted in Web Communities, Local Search on the go, Local Search per Mobile phone, Local Search, Localization technology, News, Local Search Engines, Practical features | 
Tags: Augmented Reality, chemical wedding, Cyclopedia, georgia institute of technology, Google, Google Earth, GPS, iPhone, iPhone-App, Qype, Standort, User Generated Content, wiki, Wikipedia, Wikitude, yelp | 
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Yelp: companies can now answer their critics
The USA ratings portal Yelp, still only represented in English (see our post), plan to offer the possibility for companies to respond to user criticism/comments.
This was recently reported in The New York Times newspaper. Businesses may use this new response feature in order to correct facts, or to report that/how they have been able to correct perceived problems. Advertising or personal attacks will not be possible. Yelp does not intend to monitor these responses once they are published. However if a user regards a business response as inappropriate, they will be able to flag this response for the Yelp-team for their examination.
Until recently, companies were only able to respond to user criticism/comment via e-mail, and in the case of negative ratings, to hope that the direct contact would favorably influence the user’s opinion and their resultant rating of the service offered. The new function, which according to the NYT is to launch imminently, should give more transparency and afford a more public dialogue.
Posted in General, Local Search per PC, Local Search, News, Practical features |
Tags: Beurteilungen, Bewertungsen, Bewertungsplattform, Bewertungsplattformen, Bewertungsportal, Kommentare, lokale Informationen, Stellungnahme, Unternehmen, User Generated Content, User-Bewertungen, web2.0, yelp, Local Search |
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Qype releases API; announces new CEO
Qype is on the move: alongside its announcement of its new head, it has also released its API and is offering to reward developers for the best mashups.
It was recently announced that Qype-founder and CEO until now, Stephan Uhrenbacher has resigned his position. He will become Chairman of the Board, as described by the company in a press release. The new head of Qype is Stephen Taylor, whose credits include Regional Vice President and Managing Director von Yahoo! Europe as well as Managing Director of Overture Europe.
Just a few days before the change in management was announced, the company released their API. As announced in a press release, content from Qype, such as places, ratings, locations, place categories or photos become accessible for integration in mashups and other apps. The recently released ‘Qype Radar” application for iPhone (see our post) is based, for example, on the API.
Developers can download version 1.0 of the Qype API, and start designing applications. In fact, the best apps will be rewarded: first prize will receive a prize of Euro 3.500, second prize Euro 1.000 and third prize Euro 500. To participate, developers must submit their completed new apps by February 28, 2009 to Qype.
The API is not going to remain at v.1.0. As Stephan Uhrenbacher announced in the company blog, the first quarter 2009 should see the appearance of the Qype-API 2.0. Using the innovations of this API, it is planned to also integrate photos and reports from Qype.
Posted in Local Search per PC, Local Search per Mobile phone, Local Search, News, Practical features |
Tags: API, Bewertungen, Bewertungsplattform, Bewertungsportal, Community, Empfehlungsportal, lokale Informationen, lokales Such- und Bewertungportal, Qype, Qype Radar, Stephan Uhrenbacher, Stephen Taylor, User Generated Content, web2 0 |
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Yelp starts in the United Kingdom
In July 2004, the local search and ratings portal Yelp was founded in the USA. It has continued to expand since its launch, introducing a Canadian version in August 2008 and finally has crossed the Atlantic to Britain.
Yelp-CEO and co-founder Yeremy Stoppelman detailed the changes in the company blog. Now Yelp users can also search for undertakings, and relevant ratings in London and surroundings.
In a press announcement, Stoppelman disclosed that London has long been a planned destination – it being the center of the English-speaking world, and comes additionally as a result of the wishes of British Yelp users.
Yelp is one of the market leaders in the area of local Web2.0 portals in the USA. According to sources, Yelp’s users have submitted more than 4,5 million ratings. In December 2008 alone, the website recorded a total of 16,6 million unique visitors. Can one predict a similar success story in the UK? The competition has not been sleeping ¬ Yelp is going head-to-head with successful contenders, including Brownbook, Trusted Places and the German search and ratings portal Qype (already in Britain since June 2007).
Recommendation portal – TestMyBIZ
The recommendation portal TestMyBIZ is now available for users searching for local companies or service providers, who wish to choose exclusively from other users’ suggestions.
As outlined by the operators TestMyBIZ GmbH in Bergische Gladbach in a press release, registered users can submit and recommend their favorite stores and businesses. Only positive ratings are possible, contrary to other sites such as Qype or Dialo.de.
Users are able to use a 5-star system, ranging from “above average” through “tops”. The ranking of the results on TestMyBIZ is derived exclusively from the user ratings and is absolutely unable to be influenced by the company itself being rated. However, in order to activate a full/complete entry with ratings etc., companies must approve the ‘publication’ of the entry. A basic entry is therefore free; however if an undertaking wishes to augment and expand the entry to cover further information and/or photos, a charge will be made.
Though the portal has been online since September 2007, the sheer numbers of entries, at least in our test experience, are somewhat thin on the ground.
mySonar: local community with ‘currency’
Using mySonar, a local web community, members can find friends, dates, parties, as well as locations such as restaurants, cafés, gyms or gas stations in their immediate vicinity, using either cell phone or PC.
The operators, mySonar GbR, in a press release explained: purely by entering one’s current location and the desired search radius. At the start of the service in July 2008, mySonar already offered almost 30,000 such locations in their databank. According to the service, there is now access to more than 61,000 similar locations across Germany.
If your favorite location is not yet available, one can simply register it oneself, and even be rewarded for the entry using the so-called $onars. $onars are a community currency, with which users can send SMS or pay mySonar partners for entry or services. The latter is actually a really good ad idea, enabling those firms accepting the $onars to gain new clients and to reserve ad-space on mySonar.
Those wishing to use mySonar must register and needs either a PC or internet-ready mobile device. The service requires no software installation and is free. However the standard (internet/telephonic) connection fees apply.
pointoo.de integrates more content
The local search platform pointoo.de (see our earlier post) has expanded its online offering. Users now can access many more medical and restaurant ratings.
This new injection of content is the result of cooperation with three new partners. The ratings for the medical branch are supplied by the patient-portal DocInsider; the feedback on hotels, restaurants or bars is delivered by Varta (a German hotel and restaurant guide) and by the lifestyle magazine Prinz.de.
“Through the cooperation with services such as DocInsider, we offer our users practical background information” explains Christian Strasheim, managing director of pointoo GmbH, in a press release. pointoo.de is not really a ratings platform in the standard sense (such as Qype, Dialo.de or KennstDuEinen?. It is rather more like a local search service, where registered users can mark their favorite locations, add comments and recommend to other users. Negative feedback is seldom found on this platform (by the nature of rating favorite locations). In order to enrich the users objective assessment of searched locations or service providers, Strasheim announced that further cooperative relationships are being planned for different areas of interest.
Posted in Web Communities, Local Search per PC, Local Search, News, Practical features |
Tags: Beurteilung, Bewertungsplattform, Community, DocInsider, Georg von Holtzbrinck, Kooperation, Kooperationspartner, location bookmark service, lokale Informationen, Nutzerbewertung, pointoo, Prinz.de, User Generated Content, Varta-Führer, web2.0 |
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Live Search Maps now with 360º views
The US-edition of Live Search Maps is now offering its users panorama and 3D-views, of cities, street views or buildings.
Microsoft has equipped its local search service with the Web2.0 photo tool Photosynth, with which users can assemble three-dimensional views using a collage of ‘normal’ photos. Whoever uploads photos with location-details, will facilitate these images being searchable through Live Search Maps. This recent addition was announced by Microsoft employee Chris Pendleton in his blog.
Find thing the new feature is however like a needle in a haystack – it is found after a search, in the left hand menu, under ‘Explore Collections/Show/Photosynth (per link or icon). Once discovered, a list appears showing all available Photosynth images – the geo-locations of which are displayed on the map. As these images are not embedded in Live Search Maps, users must have the Photosynth software installed on their computers. (Note, at the time of writing, the software was only available for the Windows platform).
Although this application is at present only accessible through the English-language edition of Live Search Maps, one is able to access various locations in other countries, including some in Germany, via this version of LSM.
Brownbook: joining up is worthwhile
The most websites whose content is derived from its users, build on the users’ good will and willingness to participate. The UK-based Web2.0 web directory Brownbook offers its users also a pecuniary incentive- for new entries or ratings earn financial rewards.
This takes place when signed-up businesses reward user entries or ratings, in response to one or more (paid) ads placed using the portal’s advertising-options. Brownbook pays you a slice of anything it earns make from businesses that ‘claim’ their listings and promotions, as a result of users making contributions to Brownbook.net.
For example, an ad could cost UK £ 5 (or US $10) to a ‘claimed’ business. 20% of the Brownbook fees to that business go to the user who last edited the entry. (See “How much can I earn?“)
The new ‘User Earnings Program’ is discussed in a video in the company blog by Brownbook co-founder and CEO Dave Ingram. The principles are also announced in a press release.
Those who want to earn money with Brownbook must register online, and also need a PayPal account where the payments may be transferred. And one must really be diligent about writing entries and ratings.
Brownbook appeared unofficially in December 2007 and went ‘public’ in february 2008 in the United Kingdom. The operators describe the portal as a free and open Wiki-like online directory, where users can search for local firms, rate and describe these or add new entries. The content which derives substantially for the users, is able to be edited by any other user, at least as long as a company has not claimed control over the content. The platform has been targeted internationally, as of July 2008. A recent figure (October 2008) announced by the operators listed over 27 million entries for 230 countries. The most entries are generated in the UK, USA, Canada and Australia.
Posted in Web Communities, Local Search per PC, Local Search on the go, Local Search per Mobile phone, Local Search, News |
Tags: Beurteilung, Bewertungsplattform, Bewertungsportal, Branchenbuch, Branchenverzeichnis, Brownbook, Community, lokale Informationen, mobile lokale Suche, Nutzerbewertung, Onlinebranchenverzeichnis, PayPal, User Generated Content, Verzeichnisdienst, web2.0 |
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OpenStreetMap: Hamburg almost complete
The Hamburg participants of the collaborative world map OpenStreetMap (OSM) have proved themselves as especially diligent at collecting geo-data.
On the go for about the last four years, this Web2.0 map project aims to establish a free, open database with map data covering the entire globe (see our post). As announced by the Hamburg OSM-Community in a press release, nearly 8,000 streets of their city have been documented, thereby becoming the first large German city to have all of its streets registered in the freely available world-map.
For the purposes of checking the accuracy and completeness of the OSM listing, a comparison has been made with the Hamburg Street and Area Directory of the Hamburg Statistics Division, resulting in a 99,8% overlap in accuracy. Still, there’s a lot still to be achieved by the Hamburg OSM team to cover small foot and cycle paths. And the surroundings are still showing many white patches of undocumented areas.
