FatDoor - Map-Based Community Network Brings Real-World Neighborhoods Online
Written by FatDoor
30 May 2007
Fatdoor is Now Available in the San Francisco Bay Area
SAN JOSE, Calif.- Today at the O’Reilly Where 2.0 Conference, Fatdoor™ (www.Fatdoor.com), a new community networking Web site dedicated to helping people get to know their neighbors, launched its service in the San Francisco Bay Area. Fatdoor brings together familiar social networking elements such as personal profiles, intra-personal connections, group networking and information sharing, but is centered on local neighborhoods. Using the Microsoft Virtual Earth online mapping platform as a base to visualize and explore a neighborhood, Fatdoor creates a social network for people who want to connect, communicate and share with others in their local communities. The alpha site is initially available as an invitation-only trial, and will be rolled-out in additional cities nationwide throughout the summer.
“Life is local, with people’s communities extending in concentric circles from their homes to their neighborhoods, towns and beyond,” said Bill Harris, chairman of the board, Fatdoor. “Fatdoor mimics this on the Web. With rich maps and pre-populated data for more than 100 million households in the U.S., Fatdoor brings real neighborhoods online giving people the tools to find and communicate with their neighbors.”
By bringing together the best of existing social networking services, wikis, user-generated content and online mapping, Fatdoor enables people to connect, communicate and share with their neighbors.
Connect: People can get to know their neighbors by exploring local profiles and interests, and discover new friends in the neighborhood. Communicate: Using the Fatdoor mail service, people can reach out to neighbors in a non-invasive, non-threatening way. Share: Once connections are made, neighbors can build their community around sharing common interests, pastimes and goals. The company is based in Palo Alto, California, and is led by technology industry veterans such as Co-founder and CEO Raj Abhyanker, who is the inventor of the Fatdoor concept and an active local community leader in the Bay Area. He is also a patent attorney, an electrical engineer and was the CEO of numerous Internet startups in the mid 1990s. Co-founder and CTO Chandu Thota previously worked at Microsoft where he was a central figure in building the Microsoft Virtual Earth online mapping platform and Live Search Maps; he has also authored several books including the leading text on Virtual Earth and online mapping technology from O'Reilly Publishers. Board Chairman Bill Harris was formerly CEO of Intuit and PayPal.
Along with Microsoft Virtual Earth, Fatdoor also has technology relationships with Amazon.com, Google Inc., and Yahoo! Inc.
About Fatdoor
Fatdoor is a Community Network that enables people to get to know their neighbors. Claim your profile today at http://www.Fatdoor.com.
Fatdoor, “get to know your neighbors” and shoutout are trademarks of Fatdoor, Inc. All other trademarks referenced in this release are the property of their respective owners and are hereby acknowledged.
GISuser Feature Articles
Top iPhone related GIS and Geo Tech news stories from 2009 - At the end of the year its always interesting for us to look at some of the stats and results to identify trends and more important, to see what our readers think is hot! In the "news" category it seems that iPhone related geo tech items were extremely popular.
10 Awesome GIS and Mapping apps for the iPhone - I recall last year at the ESRI UC when an iPhone was on stage showing a prototype app (think ArcPad on iPhone). It was then that I realized the iPhone platform is going to be BIG in mapping and there's a ton of opportunity for developers.
Nokia Booklet 3G, unboxing video and image gallery... Those of you in the USA who pop in to BestBuy occasionally, you may have seen a stand showing off the Nokia Booklet 3G. A sleek, 3G enabled, SIM slot (AT&T) sporting netbook.
Interesting Tweeple - 10 Geo Technology & Geo-Social Women of Twitter - given the growing love for geospatial and location-aware technologies, I’ve decided to hype 10 women that I feel make a significant contribution to the Geo-Twittersphere. If you’d like to add 10 knowledgeable and useful Twitter contacts to your Geo following list I highly suggest the following: (in no particular order)
10 Geo Social Location-Aware Apps Making Waves... With Twitter's opening of their location API to developers there's going to be a ton of third party apps that will enable Twitter users to share location-aware information via their Twitter accounts.
Signs that indicate you may be a GeoGeek (aka. GeoNerd) and some suggested Geo blogs - Chances are good that if you are a Geo Geek then you already know it and likely refer to yourself as one. However, there’s many of you out there that may be on the fence and wondering… “am I a Geo Geek?" Read on for a comprehensive list of signs you might be a GeoGeek followed up by some suggested Geoblog reading.
Real-time GPS Mapping and GIS Solution Aids Efficient Disaster Management - Saturday, February 7, 2009 will forever be known as Black Saturday in the State of Victoria, Australia. In the midst of a 10-year drought, a record breaking heat wave descended upon the state, with temperatures exceeding 45 degrees C (110-120 deg F), breaking all-time record highs in some cities - Victoria Police Use Trimble Juno SC Handhelds to Speed Assessment of Damage Caused by Bush Fires.
10 Ways Your Tech Business Can Take Advantage of Twitter - Many companies and individuals are still asking themselves how can I use Twitter in my business? The following is a small sampling of some of the ways that your technology business can use Twitter to your advantage.
2010 ESRI Federal User Conference February 17-19, 2010, Washington D.C. Walter E. Washington Convention Center - The FedUC is the largest geospatial conference for federal agencies. Connect with other leaders, decision makers, and GIS professionals.
The International LiDAR Mapping Forum 2010 - Tenth Anniversary Event! ILMF 2010 will be held from March 3 - 5, 2010 at the Hyatt Regency in Denver at Colorado Convention Center.
The NAVTEQ 2010 Global LBS Challenge Awards Ceremony will be held during Ignite at O'Reilly Where 2.0. Be among the first to hear as NAVTEQ announces the winners for the North America region. Participants will be competing for a global prize pool of $10 million and growing by showcasing pre-commercial location-enabled apps using NAVTEQ map data & products. March 30, 2010, during Ignite Where, 7:30pm - 9:00pm, at the Marriott San Jose, CA
WHERE2.0 2010 - Now in its sixth year, the Where 2.0 Conference is where the grassroots and leading edge developers building location-aware technology intersect with the businesses and entrepreneurs seeking out location apps, platforms, and hardware to gain a competitive edge. For 15% use Discount Code: whr10lbs
See more 
