Yahoo! Launches Geo-Location Platform

Yahoo! has announced the launch of Fire Eagle, an open platform that enables users to provide real-time information about their location and to update the data either automatically or manually via the Internet-based mobile or desktop applications.



For those who consider the platform yet another technological gimmick set to invade their privacy without them being aware of it, Yahoo! has some reassuring news. Users can delete their location details from any given application they have subscribed to, as well as hide their location or even lie about it, if they consider it necessary.

Common end-users are not the only ones to benefit from the features of this network supported tool. Developers are offered a free geo-location platform that can be used as base for any geo-aware application. Starting from scratch with this sort of programs would be really expensive, but Yahoo! developers decided to give a helping hand to all programmers who want to add an interesting feature to their applications.



Fire Eagle allows users to syndicate their positional data to any partner service after updating from a supported device or website. This means that after sending a Pownce message with a geo-tagged photo, I could have Fire Eagle automatically update my current location on my blog and social network profile. Users can opt to disable updates whenever they’d like, and for the especially paranoid, you can even lie about your location.