What can Twitter’s geotagging do for sports?

Shaq Tweets at fan using Twitter's new Geotagging. Photo credit: http://myloc.me/show.php?id=1kwf0

This week, Twitter launched their Geolocation API, giving users the option to have their messages contain their exact locations.

Now, I have to admit, I my first impression was that this feature is a bit creepy, and I do think it may be one of those tools to makes us all a little “too close for comfort.” But there are also lots of useful things that can be done now, too.

Think about the type of power it can give sports fans. Think of yourself having scored tickets to the 2004 World Series championship when the Red Sox beat the Yankees. Or, maybe you witnessed the ever-so-famous 1999 World Cup penalty shot by Brandi Chastain in Pasadena, CA. As a fan, you could break the news quicker than anyone else in the world using your cell phone, right from the stadium, and everyone would know exactly where you were sitting and when. Archived for eternity. Priceless.

Here are some more ideas:

If the stadiums themselves got creative, they might just be able to build some type of API to allow people to communicate and know each other’s geographic seat location. (Maybe we’re not there yet, I don’t know).

Maybe a biker could tweat his specific location on the Tour de France. You can see how he’s doing, what he’s thinking, and where he is. All in real time. Cool.

Or how about something for recreational athletes. Maybe they tweet out their location and receive a message back that tells them where local leagues are. (Similar to a “responsive version” of the WomenTalkSports map of camps, leagues and clinics for women).

Think about sports news – maybe you sent out a tweet to an application that responds with the local scores of games or tweets within 5-10 miles of you. Very cool.

Think about how fans can track their favorite players as they travel around the country and world. For example, geotagging can tell a cool story for those WNBA players overseas right now.

More ideas can be found using your own imagination and reading this ReadWriteWeb post.