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读写网:Foursquare推地理定位数据的“罗塞塔石碑”

发布时间:2011-03-18 08:30:34 Tags:,,

随着移动定位服务的不断涌现,各个公司所提供的地理位置数据的准确性变得日益重要。但游戏邦发现开发商经常无从获取数据,也无法核实这些数据的准确性,因为目前还没出现一个统一的地理位置信息数据库。

不过Foursquare刚刚宣布了其在定位服务领域的新成果:“和谐的场所地图”(venue harmonization map),并表示它希望“和谐的场所地图”能够成为地理定位数据的罗塞塔石碑(游戏邦注:Rosetta Stone,解释古埃及象形文字的可靠线索)。

foursquare

foursquare

Foursquare的新动向还包括开放Venues API,取消对其访问限制。游戏邦获悉,这个API提高了速率限制,如今的开发商已可让用户搜索Foursquare相关场所的数据,如小贴士、图片以及签到等信息,但并不需要用户通过Foursquare进行身份验证。

地理定位数据的罗塞塔石碑

Foursquare开放Venues API主要是为了“建立综合、和谐的场所地图”。Venues API可以把位置信息从一个数据库连接到另一个数据库,Foursquare在宣布开放Venues API时公布了4个合作伙伴:《纽约时报》、《纽约》杂志、Thrillist和MenuPages。

假设你通过Foursquare在某个地理位置数据库寻找某家餐厅的地址,而通过《纽约时代》的评论查看信息,就会发现同一家餐厅的ID号码并不相同。“和谐的场所地图”的宗旨是“转换数据库之间的数据,方便建立混搭页面,将页面连接到其他网站,或者在发行商网站增加‘添加到foursquare’之类的小工具”。

该平台的未来发展

这项服务并不会使地理位置数据受控于Foursquare,这只是诠释ID的一种方式,它与“罗塞塔石碑”的作用相同。但目前来看,Google和Facebook等所有的地理定位服务公司,都不太可能在采取这种做法。尽管如此,游戏邦仍然认为Foursquare的创新突破会鼓励开发商创建能够访问相关数据的产品(例如实时签到信息)。

最近Twitter和第三方开发商之间的关系并不轻松,而Foursquare最近的博客帖子则强调了“平台的重要性”,这一点确实让不少开发商感到心安,至少他们不需要时时担忧在他人的API上创建产品的可靠性。(本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译,转载请注明来源:游戏邦)

Foursquare Launches Effort to Create a “Rosetta Stone” for Location Data

As location-based services continue to spring up, it’s becoming increasingly important that these companies have access to correction location data. However, there’s no one place where developers can go to access or verify this data, and there’s no single database for location-based information.

But Foursquare has just announced an effort to move things in that direction: a “venue harmonization map” that it says it hopes can serve as a Rosetta Stone, of sorts, for location data.

Part of Foursquare’s new initiative involves opening its Venues API and removing some of the restrictions on access to it. The API will be available at higher rate limits, but more importantly, now developers will be able to search Foursquare venues and find associated data – such as tips, photos, and trending check-in information – without requiring their end-users to authenticate via Foursquare.

Creating a Rosetta Stone for Location Data

The Venue API is part of a larger effort of “building a comprehensive Venue Harmonization map.” This will help link information about places from one database to any other, and Foursquare announced four partners that are involved in this at launch: The New York Times, New York Magazine, Thrillist, and MenuPages.

As it currently stands, if you look up a restaurant in one location database – via Foursquare, for instance, it will have a different ID number than if you look that up its review in The New York Times. This can make integrating data different. The Venue Harmonization Map aims to “translate between these databases, making it easier to create mash-ups, link to pages on other sites, or add foursquare widgets like ‘Add to foursquare’ to publisher sites.”

The Future of the Platform

This won’t put the location data under Foursquare’s control per se. It’s just a way to translate IDs – think “Rosetta Stone.” And it seems unlikely that all the players in the location space, namely Google and Facebook, will play along. Nonetheless, Foursquare’s announcement will give developers a boost in building products that can access all this data, including the real-time check-in information.

In light of some of the recent kerfuffle around the Twitter’s relationship with third party development, it’s noteworthy that the title of Foursquare blog post asserts “the importance of platforms” – a comfort perhaps to developers who may feel suddenly wary about building products on someone else’s API.(Source:ReadWriteWeb)


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