A few weeks ago, Stephen Randall wrote a guest post outlining why location-based services are important for place-based screens. As SXSW approaches, it seems the right time to turn the tables and explore why place-based screens are important for location-based services.

Both Foursquare and Gowalla are shining their shoes and pulling out all the slickest new features in anticipation of SX, and tech blogs are having a comparathon field day. One of the biggest points of distinction has historically* been how each service handles the accuracy and truth of check-ins: the “were you actually there?” issue. (*Note that “historically” is used relatively here; we’re talking on an early adopter time spectrum.)

Sure, Foursquare has been fairly heavily criticized for their lack of lockdown on whether or not users “cheat,” while Gowalla has been getting slammed for being almost too strict, in that GPS unreliability has made check-ins difficult even if a user is actually in the location s/he claims.

Solutions have been tossed around (QR codes, for one), but in the end, the anxiety over the issue has seemed to fizzle somewhat as cool new features have stolen some of the limelight (and thankfully lightened the mood a bit). Foursquare’s growing partner list (disclaimer: LocaModa is on there), ever-expanding badge arsenal, and real-live Foursquare tourney (yep, the actual playground game) at SX are rightfully gaining the attention they deserve, while Gowalla’s move to turn virtual items into real world prizes proves a similar playful take on the “simulacra become fleshy” motif (as one example, virtual tacos can be cashed in for the real deal at taco trucks around the festival).

With the focus back where it should be – on the fun, gaming aspect and not the “gaming the system” aspect, it makes sense to turn to place-based screens to both provide a social display for a location-based service, while also quietly taking much of the steam out of the “were you really here?” issue.

As Stephen discusses in his original post, place-based screens serve as a “user-generated marketing tool for the venue,” allowing patrons to send in tweets and txts that can be displayed alongside check-ins and tips. Venue messaging is showcased in the venue itself, not just on individual handsets, making the interactions from users on-site far more relevant if they’re actually there. Chatting about the Free Beer for the Mayor special if you’re not actually at the bar is just, well, kinda sad.

Sure, this doesn’t solve a technical issue, but it certainly solves a social one.
And isn’t that the point?

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Edited to add: To toss a bit more fuel into fire, if a more technical solution was desired by a venue, that’s easy icing for a place-based DOOH platform. Locations can display in-venue deals with custom location codes (advertised on screen) that expire after an hour or day, giving an added incentive to the patrons actually there to take advantage of them. Look for an upcoming post on additional technical solutions using place-based networks.

Although many of the posts here on The Web Outside showcase LocaModa’s finished products, I thought it would be a nice change of pace to pass the baton over to one of our developers and let him shed a bit of light on what goes on behind the scenes here.

Ben, a Platform Architect here at LocaModa, has written a two-part blog post in which he details the asynchronous sending and receiving of messages, as well as synchronous request/response using ActiveMQ and Spring.

Ben will be representing Loca at SXSW, so feel free to pick his brain in person if you’re headed to Austin. (He looks basically like the profile pic above, except in color.) If not, you can always hit him up on Twitter or leave a comment here.

Because LocaModa CEO Stephen Randall just isn’t busy enough, he recently authored two new white papers that speak expressly to the DOOH market, but simultaneously address a broader scope of place-based and interactive media issues as well.

These two white papers are available for free full download below.

Increasing the Value of a Digital Out of Home Network Via Metcalfe’s Law

Metcalfe’s law states that the value of a network is the square of its connected users (n2). DOOH networks, being typically single hub and spoke designs, fail to leverage the potential network effect of Metcalfe’s law and are consequently failing to maximize their value to locations, advertisers or end users.

The Digital Out of Home Tipping Point

Lessons can be learned from the web and the mobile industry to help Digital Out of Home reach its “tipping point.” Those lessons reinforce that media needs to be more measurable and more engaging, and networks need to offer less friction to brands and agencies wishing to reach their audiences across multiple channels.

The full collection of LocaModa White Papers is available on our site.

As Stephen mentioned in his Vegas recap, we were absolutely blown away by the overwhelming response to our integration with Foursquare. The TechCrunch article had over 4700 clicks in one day from bit.ly alone, not to mention 70 comments (many of them rather impassioned)! The Mashable article garnered 2500+ clicks from bit.ly in the first few hours as well… I thought we were going to see Tweetdeck burst from all of the RTs!

So what does this mean for the still emerging DOOH industry?
Was this installation DOOH’s coming out party to the mainstream tech crowd? (Hey, what better place for a par-tay than Vegas, right?)

If so, does this mean the DOOH Tipping Point is happening at the intersection of Place Based Social Media (such as LocaModa) and Location Based Services (such as Foursquare and Gowalla)?

We’re interested in hearing from the thought leaders of the industry… speak up!

The night before I left Las Vegas I walked out in the desert to look at the moon. There was a jeweled city on the horizon, spires rising in the night, but the jewels were diadems of electric and the spires were the neon of signs ten stories high. ~Norman Mailer

And with that, I’m turning the blog over to CEO Stephen Randall today for his take on this past week in Loca-Land. Take it away, Stephen…

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Following DSE 2010 in Vegas, the LocaModa train keeps rolling along…

We used DSE as a platform to launch the industry’s first app store – dedicated to solving the problem of helping networks find revenue generating media that engages audiences, attracts advertisers and adds value to venues.

I’m happy to say that our message and proposition was received loud and clear! It’s great to see so many companies coming over to our booth and telling us that we had the exact solution they were looking for. I was also delighted to see so many inquiries coming from major networks outside the US.

We also announced our relationship and integration with Foursquare.

The Foursquare announcement was timed to coincide with our launch on another Clear Channel screen – this one happens to be the largest on the strip, outside Miracle Mile Shops. This was great timing with the DSE show less than one mile away, and various events occurring at the Paris, next to the screen. This story keeps on getting bigger for good reason. Applications like Foursquare will become the on-ramp for loyalty programs in venues and are perfect for DOOH screens. Not surprising then that both Techcrunch and Mashable covered it yesterday afternoon. You should have seen our web stats spike!

Back to DSE, where we also announced that UCView has integrated LocaModa Apps directly into their software offering (they have hundreds of licensees collectively reaching thousands of locations).

The show itself was a great success with hundreds of leads from networks globally representing tens of thousands of venues. Our booth was always well attended and our applications were also on display at UCView, Eventful and CoolSign booths, as well as being used by the event organizers as a communications tool, showing tweets, hashtags and text messages from attendees.

LocaModa’s position as thought leaders was further strengthened when it was announced that we had won two gold awards for our work – a Gold Apex award in the Hospitality category and a Gold Content award in the Interactive category. Both awards were for applications that ran on Zoom Media and Marketing’s network – which was also great news for our partners.

Luckily we managed to fly back to Boston missing the massive Nor’ Easter that dumped 18 inches of snow along the east coast and delayed flights up to New York. We made it back with no delays. Our team was great – Jake, Tim and Gabi were first timers at DSE and now know what it’s like to stand and talk to customers until you don’t have a voice. Jayne, Bill, Steve and I, are long time supporters of DSE so we already knew what to expect – but even we were very surprised by how the event went. Thanks Chris and team over at DSE.

More Vegas photos available on Gabi’s Flickr.