Here are 3 questions to Pete Tenereillo CEO AwareSpot

Can you tell us more about your service?
AwareSpot(TM) is a system designed so that trusted information sources like community service, public safety, news and media (radio and TV stations), law enforcement, etc. can easily deliver relevant, timely, location based, information to members of the community via text messaging. For example, local TV station knows there is an accident and resulting traffic jam on highway 5 South. A TV broadcast is not of much use to commuters, however a timely text message could tell them to use an alternate route, save them time and gasoline, and help them make it to work on time. AwareSpot can also be used by other public or private organizations, for example clubs, churches, and colleges. The service is free and it works on any mobile phone.

Here’s how it works. There are two types of users, the trusted sources of information (public services etc.), and the recipients of the information (commuters etc.).

The trusted source creates what is called a "distribution list". They can choose whether the list name is published (appears in the AwareSpot directory), unpublished (not in directory, users need to learn name via word of mouth, but signup is still open), or private (signup is invite only via invite keys and the AwareSpot private messaging system).

The recipient, or "distribution list subscriber", finds the name of a list they are interested in and subscribes. The subscriber then specifies the routes/roadways/etc. or areas they travel, or general areas that are relevant to them.

Next, when there is an incident, the distribution list owner simply drags and drops a point on a map on the AwareSpot site, enters the message to be sent (e.g. "overturned truck hwy 5 southbound at carmel valley rd., use alt route"), and clicks "Send". Let’s say there are also 8 other traffic jams that morning. The distribution list owner sends those too, but subscribers only get the messages that are relevant to the roads they travel at the times they travel them. 9 text messages about 9 different traffic jams, 8 of them irrelevant to any given subscriber, would be too much money spent on text message services, and too irritating and distracting. That is why it must be location based. With AwareSpot the subscriber only gets the ones they need.

In order to understand AwareSpot and why we did it, some history is needed.
AwareSpot is the result of significant experience in the market, after millions of users, on other services we offer, and also specific feedback. Tenereillo, Inc. also runs Trapster(R) (www.trapster.com), a social network for sharing the location of police speed traps, radar enforcement locations, speed camera locations, etc., and JotYou(TM), (www.jotyou.com), a location based messaging and gaming system.

Both Trapster and JotYou are much more technically complex than AwareSpot.Each have a portfolio of native mobile applications that use GPS and WiFi positioning, and Trapster uses things like voice transcription, geocoding, reverse geocoding, etc.

Trapster is a "crowdsourcing" application and (for obvious reasons) has been publicized virally. It’s been on the front page of AOL.com, CNN.com, MSN.com, on TV on CNN Headline News and 100s of local TV stations around the US. As a result of this publicity, community service, law enforcement, etc.
individuals contacted us and said "do you have something we can use?".

JotYou is a general purpose location based messaging system that could be used for almost anything. It has things like one touch reminders, real time tracking, etc. So in theory a community service office could use JotYou’s map and mobile application to deliver location based messages to JotYou users. But JotYou is overkill for the problem. That would require all users to continuously run the JotYou application in order to get the messages. It would also only work for users who have GPS or WiFi enabled phones.

So — we created AwareSpot, which we feel is the right tool for the job. It is simple and free and works on any phone.

What is your business model?
Ads, eventually.

What are the projects, additional features you’re preparing?
Tenereillo, Inc. has lots more location based mobile apps in the works.Trapster, JotYou, and AwareSpot are the only ones that are announced at this time.