Tagwhat: A Community Experience Like No Other
The Go, See, Share Social Network…
Imagine a new social experience that lets you explore the world and communicate with friends in an entirely new dimension — one fueled by your immediate surroundings and imagination. That's Tagwhat, an interactive, free, and social community that combines the very best of augmented reality, geo-based technology, and social networking. Tagwhat gives you your very own global canvas to discover, explore, and share what matters.
Walk down the street, and the Tagwhat mobile application delivers an abundance of geo-contextual information about your immediate surroundings. Find a coupon for a nearby restaurant and search for public reviews on that restaurant. Find friends nearby and comment on their status. Read another friend's conversation about a pizza joint and add your own comment to the thread. Take a photo of earrings in a store window, and send an augmented reality card to your girlfriend. The possibilities are virtually endless, and limited only by your imagination.
Dynamic mobile and online experiences
The Tagwhat mobile app lets you explore your surroundings and connect with friends right from your Android device or iPhone. Use your smartphone's camera viewfinder for augmented reality where you can see the real-world setting right in front of you with an abundance of relevant and useful information overlaid on top. Tagwhat mobile also takes advantage of all the other cool features on your phone right inside the mobile application (no need to navigate between multiple apps) — for example, you can scan a product's bar code in the viewfinder to pull up information (price comparisons or coupons), as well as instantly contact a nearby friend in their preferred method (call, SMS, email, tweet…).
And while mobile augmented reality may be the next evolution in mobile technology, it's only part of the Tagwhat picture. We've developed an engaging online experience that lets you access your personalized user maps, networking tools, discussion feeds, and tagging features from within any web browser. So, even if you don't have an iPhone or Android or you are simply hanging out at home, you can still be a part of the Tagwhat revolution.
'Smart Markers': the core of location-powered social networking
Here's how it works. Tagwhat users drop 'smart markers' (digital crumbs) at specific locations using the augmented reality/mobile application or a dynamic map on their computer. You can attach a message, photo, or URL link to any marker. Each marker becomes a location-based informational link and conversation starter for your network of friends and followers with the added benefit of being able to direct link to actions from the mobile device such as send email, call, cross-post to Twitter or Facebook.
When building your personal Tagwhat network, you can 'friend' or 'follow' other Tagwhat members to merge marker streams and create an augmented, location-based world that's filled with relevant content. You can search for markers via keywords while filtering displayed markers based on personal preference criteria, such as friends and favorites.
Unlike other location-based apps, Tagwhat lets you drop information anywhere in the world, and not just from your current location. Have a friend in Japan? Place a marker for him to see with a video. And marker locations don't even have to be tied to businesses or known addresses they can be to dog parks, secret surfing spots, or the best area in the city to find a parking spot. Furthermore, because Tagwhat has implemented strict privacy controls, if you want to keep things private, you can be assured that only the people you choose can see your personal markers and information. You can even direct a ‘for your eyes only’ marker to a single person anywhere on the globe.
Tagwhat is about imagination and it’s completely customizable to you. Build a private social network any way you choose to mirror your own personal and individualistic lifestyle.
· Create a location-based blog
· Share a moment with a far-away friend or significant other
· Create a scavenger hunt
· Build your global 'bucket list'
· Arrange meet-ups, pub crawls, and more
· Create campus tours, neighborhood tours, personal travel tours, nature walks…
'Premium Channels': The next wave of commerce and content
While markers deliver user-generated “friend” content, Tagwhat channels bring you customized value-added content from our growing list of partners. We're rapidly adding new partners to Tagwhat, so you'll be able to subscribe to channels that matter most to you whether they are from your favorite retailers, concert venues, sports teams, travel guides, media sites, and more. This vibrant location-based ecosystem is designed to become your own personal entertainment and game network, your shopping network, ticket network, travel network, with so many more options.
The possibilities are truly endless:
· Check on movie times, watch a trailer, buy tickets, and invite your friends
· Participate in a promo for your favorite band, where they release their latest track to be downloaded only on a designated street corner in every city in the world
· Take part in a unique augmented reality gallery walk of artwork in the park
· Get a discount for visiting a participating retailer and scanning their unique Tagwhat code
· Subscribe to third-party social gaming (just imagine Mafia Wars with the added dimension of user location…)
Tagwhat…it’s not just another augmented reality application. It’s a life experience. One which adapts, evolves and grows for you and based on you that combines the very best of augmented reality with social networking for real people on the go. Tagwhat opens up a world for discovery, exploration and sharing for what matters most in your life.
Private Beta
Tagwhat launched its private beta both on-line and in the Android market on March 30, 2010. Since then, users and emerging partners include a Fortune 50 technology company, two museums, a healthcare system, and an advertising network. Tagwhat plans a public launch including an application for iPhone 3GS in the near future.
The Tagwhat Team:
Tagwhat is the creation of Iryss, formerly GoWeb3D. Our team (http://bit.ly/c5blks) has developed more mobile augmented reality than just about anyone else. We were one of the first developers on the Layar AR browser, and are responsible for the consistently top-rated layers Wikipedia, Yelp, Flickr, Mazda Netherlands, Eat & Drink, UDR Apartment Search, and the soon to be announced Frommer’s Travel Guide. We have three patents pending related to critical AR technologies including the integration of AR with sensors such as RFID and RTLS tags in a live environment, merging of user generated content and data streams into a single cohesive view, and the utilization of virtual goods to enable e-commerce via AR grids. We believe that mobile augmented reality will completely revolutionize the way people interact with their surroundings and each other, and that Tagwhat is the system that will make it all possible.