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Consumers are no strangers to GPS technology, which has been available to the public since 2000. However, recently, companies have been getting global attention for attempting to combine social networking with GPS tracking and location-based technology. These applications, such as Foursquare, Gowalla, and Yelp, have achieved some level of relative success.

These companies, however, have focused primarily on sharing with friends where you are and providing information on restaurants and other city hot-spots. New GPS navigation-based companies are beginning to emerge.

A new company, Waze, has just received $25,000,000 in venture capital funding in the hopes of creating crowdsourced GPS maps. These maps, with data supplied by a large user base, provide information on traffic jams and road conditions.
Building and Promoting Waze

The goal of the recent influx of cash is to increase the user base of Waze. They need to get “as much data as possible into the application,” according to Noam Bardin, CEO of Waze. That challenge will be solved by keeping users interested in the application. If they stay interested and focused on the application, then they will continue to make the maps more useful.

Waze might also make headway by customizing its application for individuals’ needs. The application could learn what routes users take to school or work and adjust routes accordingly to teach faster ways of commuting.

Will Waze be successful? You tell us. Would you use a location-based social media site if it starts to become incredibly useful and full of information that would make your life easier?

Article Written by Greg Minton