SimpleGeo Makes Location Data Free, Complicates Smartphone Tracking Worries

SimpleGeo has placed 20 million locations for “places” in the public domain to drive developers of location-based service apps. The thing is that data, combined with location-tracking smartphones, could spark unsavory uses too. In a direct challenge to Foursquare’s effort to become the “Rosetta stone” for location-data on identifiable geo-located “places,” SimpleGeo is trying to spark a revolution in location-based app writing by making the data for 20 million places available on its servers under the Creative Commons Zero license–essentially placing the data for free into the public domain.