As we enter 2010, we leave 2009, the year that Twitter hit mainstream, my mum (heck, even my grandma) got Facebook and the year the smartphone became a necessity.

The last decade has greatly seen advances in technology thanks to Moore's Law and I bet the next decade will be even more spectacular than the last with Apple, already, allegedly about to release a new device that will change the way we perceive personal computing of the same scale as the iPhone changing the way we see our mobile phones and the original Macintosh changing the way the world saw computers - that they weren't just for the office.

In a world, that's changing so quick it's hard to keep up - you just got on Twitter but now what, you don't want to be 3 years late to the next train do you? Come closer, I have an inkling as to where to go.

Geolocation has been something geeks have been freaking out about for a while now - even before cameras had them built-in we figured out a way to get a GPS chip in there.

Geolocation has seen great uptake throughout 2009 also: web-browsers are starting to supporting geolocation meaning websites will know where you are, with your permission of course. Google Mobile for example will give you localised results if you give up your location.

Geolocation data has also been added to Twitter's API which means we now know where you were when you tweeted that, just as we know where you were when you took that photo. However so far, geolocation data has often just been metadata, information about information. When does geolocation data take centre-stage?

Introducing Gowalla, a real-time, real-world location-based game brought to you by Alamofire. Competitors include Foursquare (developers of the original location-based game Dodgeball which was sold to Google), Google Latitude (almost certainly using Dodgeball technology) and Loopt.

Foursquare seems to be the front runner at the moment as most geeks who used Twitter back in 2006 when it was unveiled (thank you very much) are now using Foursquare (I tried.)

The problem for us in NZ, and most people around the world, is that Foursquare only supports certain metros around the world; specifically geek-heavy metros. So if you live in San Francisco, or even Wellington, then you can play, but if you live in Auckland or Oklahoma then too bad.

Gowalla on the other hand works worldwide with no predetermined "game cities." The game is also slightly different. In Gowalla you play to collect items, in Foursquare you fight for mayorship.

Check-in at a certain spot  the most with Foursquare and you become the Mayor of that spot which at some spots, such as bars, may mean you become eligible for a discount or a free drink.

In Gowalla you collect and trade items by dropping items off at certain spots and picking others up at other spots. You gain a stamp every time you check in to a new place and pins when you complete various trips (checking in at 10 different places or creating 10 new spots.)

Some trips are more specialised such as visiting five iconic spots in Central Park, NY however since these trips aren't user-generated it means there aren't any specialised trips in NZ yet. (User-generated trips are planned.)

Most of the location-based games can be played on multiple platforms - Gowalla has a free iPhone app and can be played on any other smartphone (or device) that has a web-browser that supports geolocation data (which includes all Android devices with GPS.)

Like Twitter's use cases weren't clear at first; neither is Gowalla's - trading virtual cards gets old quite fast - but they do arise. For instance, lately I've become aware of the places that I visit - thinking twice about visiting the same place again, instead opting to try something new.

Another use case is when you check-in at a place you can see who else has been there recently and what they said about the place.

These "tips" can help you choose what to eat at a restaurant you check-in to if a few of the past visitors have recommended the same dish! This last case hasn't actually happened to me yet - though friends abroad do attest that it does happen - and that's mainly because there isn't enough people on Gowalla yet in NZ. 

Which is why, I encourage you to catch this train early and enjoy me on a GPS fuelled adventure.