Announcing Picket: Location Data for Social Impact, from X-Mode.

New breakthroughs in Location Intelligence, AI, and Machine Learning stand to improve the quality of life for billions of people around the world, disrupting everything from city planning to agriculture. We are on the brink of The Fourth Industrial Revolution — the dawn of a truly golden age for humanity.

But any technology is only as valuable as the amount of people who can access it. Cars were just a toy for the rich until Henry Ford began selling them to average Americans, changing the way we travel, and transforming the way we live. If the internet had never made the jump from a top-secret military project to the world wide web, we may have never sailed forth into the information age.

The field of location data now sits at this same crossroads — poised to change the world for the many, or to serve the interests of a few

Right now, this technology is largely unknown to the public, and widely mistrusted. If we cannot liberate location data from the silos where it resides, the world may never see its potential to affect positive, revolutionary change.

At X-Mode, we have seen first-hand the power of location. Harnessed properly, data of the quality and accuracy delivered by X-Mode’s SDK can empower people to build a better world. We have already begun to activate this potential by providing data to students at UVA who have designed MobiAmbulance, a data-driven dispatching system for emergency vehicles. Applications like this remind us of the transformative power of location.

Announcing Picket, an initiative by X-Mode — bringing the advantages of location to all people.

With Picket, we aim to transform the dramatic potential of location into concrete, kinetic solutions. No longer will companies pay lip service to the brighter tomorrow that location data could bring. Instead, X-Mode is leading the way to bring those promises to life today.

Picket has three goals. First, we aim to educate consumers about the realities of location data, and its ability to solve real world problems, large and small, from building smarter cities to shortening lines at Starbucks.

Second, we want to reform the location data industry from the inside out. In order to do this we will lead by example, embodying best practices to earn consumer trust and become the trusted face of location data.

Finally, we want to provide the advantages of location data to causes and organizations that otherwise might not have access to it. This will mean not only partnering with Universities on location-based research projects, but actually reaching out to activist groups and non-profits and offering them pro-bono data for awareness campaigns and recruitment.

By offering free and accessible location data to cause-driven activists and researchers, Picket is helping to create a better world.

For too long, a fence has stood between the field of location data and the everyday people who stand to benefit from it. Picket provides an open gate through that fence, and a chance to make location work for all people.

Is your organization having trouble with outreach? Tired of competing with for-profit companies with more data and more resources? Or do you just want to find out more about Picket and the Location Data for Good Movement? Contact us today at picket@xmodesocial.com, or check out Picket’s web page. For any more questions, head over to our contact form today.