Giving Brightkite a Second Look

I’ve been checking out a number of different iPhone apps in the last month or so and one I tested recently was the mobile version of Brightkite. I’ve only ever glanced quickly at Brightkite in the past but curiosity got the better of me and I signed on using the iPhone app. As I might have expected Halifax is pretty much barren for users, it somewhat reminded me of the first time I tried an avatar virtual world, moving around in a big space and (very) rarely bumping in to someone… or not.
Chris Brogan has some interesting things to say about Brightkite and sounds like he also gave it a second look after trying out the iPhone app. The Brightkite mobile app on the iPhone makes use of GPS type positioning and on the iPod Touch, which doesn’t have that ability, positioning is achieved by taking the physical location of the Wi-Fi access point from the Skyhook Wireless database. I’m presuming Skyhook doesn’t have access points for Halifax in it’s database as Brightkite tried to guess I was in Ottawa. Perhaps I’ll try the Skyhook access point add form and see how long & if they actually add some local points, which means entering the access point’s MAC address, not something too many people are going to bother doing. Until then I’m still able to log on both mobile and with the web based client at home and in the office, so occasionally I’ll poke my head in there and see if anything is happening in our area. I’m inclined to agree with Chris Brogan that its something that really could go somewhere, all depending on where the folks at Brightkite take it.