Which Location Based Service? Or Any At All?

I had an odd thought the other day while preparing for a recent trip. In fact, I wrote this from my flight.

With all the choices we have for “checking in,” how do we decide which LBS (location based service) platform to use … if any. It seems many people are getting burned out trying to make this decision. Chris Brogan​ posted about said burnout not that long ago.

While we don’t have Gowalla anymore, we are left to choose from Foursquare (my default), G+, Yelp, Facebook, Urbanspoon, Tripadvisor, and I’m sure a few others I am forgetting. Each has its own niche and community.

I could, of course, simply base my decision on which community I prefer or which one I think is most advantageous for me, but I keep asking myself these questions.

Too many questions? Perhaps. But during my last big trip I found G+ Local (maps) good for finding things like a place to stay, while Foursquare and Yelp proved better at helping me find places to eat that have gotten good reviews. In fact, during recent trips to both New York city and Las Vegas, I selected places to eat because of Foursquare comments from friends.

Of course there are many other apps, like TapaStreet and Banjo, that are supposed to help you find where the action is (and the people are), but I’ve not had much luck with them.

Okay, I offer all of this simply to get your wheels turning and prompt you to ask the same questions: which do you use, when, and why?