The iPhone location-based application foursquare has been catching the attention of hipsters in US cities such as New York and San Francisco for a couple of months.

It's now spreading its tentacles into Europe with London pegged as the second place to be integrated into the platform; Amsterdam was the first.

Using GPS and/or cell/wi-fi location, the free app lets you tell your friends where you are - "checking-in" - and links into the real-world by enabling you to unlock rewards such as special offers at bars and shops as you go to those locations.

In addition, the app can alert you when you're near a location where rewards can be found; something that's combined with the idea of Mayors - or the person who has the most check-ins in that particular location.

What's also neat is that you have to actively trigger the sending of your position, meaning there's less issue with privacy concerns.

Assuming Londoners get the message, the next city to be integrated into the foursquare-a-verse will be Paris

Good thing the company raised $1.35 million over the summer to fund its new love of the Old Empire.

Support for BlackBerry and Windows Mobile devices is also due soon.

You can sign up to foursquare at its website, or get the app at the App Store [Link] or Android Market.

[source: TechCrunch]