Last year The Geo Factor lamented about how analyst predictions are, mostly, self-serving shams. We shouldn’t take them too seriously. But this year I decided to join the fray. What the heck – it’s a new year. Count on these geo things happening in 2008.

GPS Meets Reality TV. With the writers’ strike dragging on, CBS signs up Garmin and Rand McNally to create a new reality TV show. Dubbed “Lost … and Found?” two teams of contestants compete for the $1 million prize. Both teams are dropped in remote parts of the earth, one team with a GPS device, the other with paper maps. The team that reaches the destination first, wins. The contest rages on for weeks, but ends with no winners because none of them know how to read maps or follow directions.

New Meets Old. While many pundits predicted the growth of traffic services on GPS-enabled cell phones, 2008 brings a different popular solution to the forefront. Combining the power of GPS with the world’s oldest profession, cell phone makers see rapid growth in a new application used by johns to find their entertainment. Pimps worldwide protest vehemently as they are disintermediated by the new app, carefully dubbed “ho-nav” by none other than the resurgent Don Imus. Al Sharpton and Nokia immediately call for his firing.

Google Expands Map Services Again. In a bold move to grow it’s provision of geographic information, Google announces it will map everything below the surface of the earth, including sewers, natural gas pipelines, geologic formations, skeletons, and anything else under there. Google ridicules existing infrastructure and underground data sources, saying, “Those sources are for the one in a zillion people who oversee the infrastructure. Our data will be for everyone else.” In a move many interpret as a response to Google’s announcement, Microsoft renames Windows Vista to “Thermal Core”.

GPS Finds New Uses. 2008 finds many new uses for GPS chips, as they shrink in size and grow in sophistication. In one exciting development, engineers at SIRF figure out how to implant GPS chips and receivers into human sperm and eggs, possibly solving a big problem for many infertile couples. The ACLU immediately protests, citing the right of every sperm to go wherever it pleases without intervention.

Personal Navigation Devices (PNDs) Made in China. In a widely anticipated move, China expands its manufacturing of personal navigation devices in 2008. As the devices reach the automobile market, police reports begin to show correlation between excessively speeding motorists and the new China-made PNDs. A Consumer Electronics Association study finds excessive lead in the devices, prompting a massive replacement program, dubbed the “lead foot” recall.

GIS Decides the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election. Computer mapping becomes so advanced in 2008 that it decides to move from its after-the-fact-here’s-a-pretty-map status. GIS developers, tired of lingering in the shadows of modern computing, decide it’s time to move the new automated voting machines out of their prominence by rigging them with geobots that steal votes based on geography. The ruse goes undetected until FOX TV announces that ESRI founder Jack Dangermond wins the electoral vote. Hillary demands a recount, but Bill talks her out of it by saying, “Honey, geography was your worst subject in high school. And besides, the White House needs a new GIS.”

Well, surely much more will happen in 2008 tied to the growing use of maps and location-based information by consumers and businesses. The Geo Factor wishes its readers a happy, prosperous, and location-based 2008; and please tell your friends where to find us.