I see a ton of potential in location aware applications. Two disparate schools of thought exist in the design of these applications.
First is the more popular of the two, the Foursquare model. This model consists of an individual physically checking-in when they arrive at a location. If an individual forgets about it (as I often do), then no check-in occurs and your friends are none the wiser.
The second method, and my favorite method, is used by services like Google Latitude. The Latitude method requires me to do nothing. It tracks my position and allows those that I allow access to the information know where I am.
I am a big proponent of letting the machine do the work for me. But it appears that a large number of people enjoy the added hassle of remembering to check-in for a few pieces of flare.
Latitude does a lot of other work for me also. It notifies me when someone in my friends list is nearby. It tracks my location over time so I could then use the information for other purposes, such as optimizing my routes or determining where all my time is spent. Services like Foursquare or Gowalla, do none of this.
I don’t get it.
