I find myself a bit skeptical, just because geolocation data has been around for so long now, and I’ve heard people saying that it will revolutionize how information is presented to us for quite some time. This concept is nothing new, though if you look at it from the perspective that Messina has provided, it’s a fairly compelling-feeling twist as a sort of infrastructure given that could and should be incorporated in the planning and development of any given internet site — particularly social ones — at their very inception.

What isn’t plain is just how integral all the locative information could be, considering the issues of unknowable error rates involved in geolocation data (see the section on “The issue of error rates” in “Geolocation: Core To The Local Space And Key To Click-Fraud Detection“) and consumer interest group resistance to pinpointing of users’ locations based upon privacy concerns (just today there was an article on how groups are complaining to the FTC about the ease of geo-pinpointing of users of mobile devices). I wish he’d touched on those aspects in some way, although I do like the techno-evangelist spin he’s provided on location as a foundational aspect in site design.

Update: Susan Mernit, formerly of Yahoo!, also points out that security is a major concern for applications like dating sites, and that there’s consumer irritation involved with some contextual advertising.

“Now it is drafting specifications for phones that can display all of Google’s mobile applications at their best, and it is developing new software to run on them. The company is conducting much of the development work at a facility in Boston, and is working on a sophisticated new Web browser for cellphones, people familiar with the plans say.”

Could this be what they’ll have that browser hacker working upon?

Yesterday, Michael Arrington at TechCrunch reminded us yesterday that Google has also invested in the Maxthon Browser not long ago, so there’s even more indication that Google could still intend to launch their own general web browser as well. The Maxthon Browser is apparently used particularly in China.

In any case, if the WSJ reporters’ sources are correct, we now have confirmation that Google is indeed working upon writing their own browser software.

Due to my interests in local search, I’m further fascinated that Google’s plans for the mobile phone specify that it should include GPS capability:

“The specifications Google has laid out for devices suggest that manufacturers include cameras for photo and video, and built-in Wi-Fi technology to access the Web at hot spots such as airports, coffee shops and hotels. It also is recommending that the phones be designed to work on carriers’ fastest networks, known as 3G, to ensure that Web pages can be downloaded quickly. Google suggests the phones could include Global Positioning System technology that identifies where people are.” 

I recently wrote an article on Geolocation, and it’s clear to me that Google’s inclusion of GPS in these devices is so that they can target locally-oriented ads and content directly to the users. GPS-enabled devices would have the highest degree of geolocational accuracy of any of the methods for associating real-world locations with the virtual-world internet users.