While Google has shut down Latitude, Geepers is creeping into the geo-location space with plans beyond simple check-ins.
With almost any social network, the "check-in" has become a standard, fun feature, but Geepers allows you to store preset addresses and locations under your own directory, so that you could potentially have something like "!TechRadar_Au.Office" or "!TechRadar_Au.Fishing".
"!TechRadar_Au.Now" can be used as a check-in style feature for a more immediate way for friends to find you at a particular location.
You can choose to share these labels and locations temporarily or for longer periods of time with certain individuals or companies.
But Geepers goes even further than that, especially for logistics like courier and mail services. You could send your ".Office" address to a courier services, but if your plans suddenly change, you could change your location to ".Home" using the Geepers app, and the courier company would be informed immediately.
Currently, Geepers already has Fastway Couriers signed on, but it is also in talks with postal services and other courier and logistic companies worldwide.
The Geepers future
The brains behind the project, David Whitfield, came up with the idea for Geepers while travelling in China.
"Geepers was actually created sitting in the back of a car in China, because the driver wouldn't move until we had the address of where we were going next into his GPS. It's difficult in a lot of the world because the address and the GPS wouldn't really talk to one another," said Whitfield.
After a lot of yelling and confusion, he kept thinking that there must be a better way of doing things, and so began the creation of Geepers.
"We are to the real world what domain names are to the internet," said Whitfield.
The future for Geepers, Whitfield explained, goes beyond personal addresses for delivery purposes, or simply being able to find friends at a restaurant or public place, as businesses can sign on and have their physical presence placed on the map as well for easy location by customers.
"Geepers is the future of business locations and addresses, delivering significant commercial efficiencies for the logistics industry in particular, and will become a significant tool in location based marketing."
Digital address book
Launched in Sydney last week, the Australian startup is backed by incubator BlueChilli and Internode founder Simon Hackett.
Currently, the service is only available through web browsers, but the team is working on an app that is set to be launched in August.
Key backer, Hackett sees the potential uses for Geepers to expand from beyond the personal check-ins or the logistical delivery uses, and instead challenge the roles of the Yellow and White Pages.
"Geepers has the potential to become the most popular way that internet users will dynamically and accurately locate the people, places and things that matter to them, anywhere in the world," said Hackett.
"I for one would love to be able to keep all my contacts appraised of changes in my life, by simply having my Geepers identity represent a dynamic link of personal information beyond physical position."
