Location, Location, Location! The Mapping Wars have begun. ‘apple to use planes that can film you sunbathing in your back garden’ blasted The Daily Mail this week, as the company announced it will no longer be using Google’s map software in its new devices.

Apple is instead investing heavily in its own 3D city maps, using military-grade cameras. Apple wants greater future ownership over location-dependent mobile marketing, something increasing numbers of UK retailers are starting to take seriously.

After a false start in the early 2000s, so-called location-based marketing has re-entered the limelight. This has been driven by the greater proliferation of GPS enabled smartphones, familiarity with social networking and more relaxed consumer attitudes to personal data and privacy.

Mobile social network Foursquare was one of the first to jump on these shifts, with a consumer proposition focused on helping to make cities easier and more interesting to explore.

Foursquare users can download the application on to their mobile devices and use it to ‘check in’ to venues. This process gives consumers access to reviews and comments left by other users as well as a way to alert their Foursquare followers on their location. Since its launch in 2009, the site has reached 20 million active users, with over 750 million check-ins.

The ability to access promotions from retailers via ‘specials’ and other features is also one of Foursquare’s most popular benefits, and one which Starbucks and Domino’s in the UK were quick to take advantage of in 2010. Fast-forwarding to 2012, last week Foursquare announced a partnership with Amex and retailers including Tesco. American Express customers who check in to a Tesco store via Foursquare will now be able to access exclusive offers when they pay with their card. At launch, these offers included £5 cashback on spend of more than £5 at the supermarket.

The potential of location-based marketing to drive retail footfall is huge, which is why the battle over maps matters. Apple, through its iPhone and iPad devices and Google through its mobile platform Android, have the potential to directly reach many more consumers than those currently using Foursquare.

The ability to reach UK shoppers at scale via a small number of mobile marketing platforms is what retailers will want to see emerge before investing in location-based marketing. In the meantime, Foursquare offers innovative retailers in urban centres an inexpensive opportunity to experiment, gather intelligence and start building a mobile relationship with their customers.

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