As I look at new applications, services and games I see that more and more of them are using physical location as part of the information used. While the virtual can give one the opportunity to have an experience independent of any real world location, there is also an appeal to seeing where people are in the world, and sometimes who is local.
The virtual spaces (whether 3d, 2d or text based) allow people to connect without the limitations brought about by physical locations, but at the same time these virtual spaces can be used to help connect to people who are physically local – and the virtual becomes a way to augment our physical reality.
