With a universal location-based database seemingly as distant a prospect as it ever was, Gowalla's decision to forge ahead on its own appears to be paying dividends.

 

The firm has this week revealed that spots stored on its database – the check in venues and locations users can add to the service – have now surpassed 2 million.

Spot the difference

In essence, such a stat goes beyond mere check ins, priving that users are investing in the app, adding places to the database if and when they come across them.

"Over 2,000,000 Spots have now been created on Gowalla," the firm revealed in a tweet. "Thanks to all of you for adding your favourites in 171 countries."

It's an important milestone for Gowalla, given the recent movements of its competitors.

Business sense

Relative newcomer SCVNGR recently signed a deal to employ Google's Places API in its set up, while Facebook has tied its own Places tab to a new venture dubbed Facebook Deals.

The service displays an icon by any venues with promotional offers on, allowing users who check in with Facebook Places to take advantage of key deals.

In truth, it's simply a more regimented, universal take on the kind of deals Gowalla, Foursquare, MyTown, SCVNGR and the like have been signing with individual companies.

Nonetheless, it represents the kind of logistical might Facebook is able to bring to the table that is arguably out of the reach of its new found competitors.

[source: TheNextWeb]