While listening to the TWIT #225 (This Week in Tech) podcast Jason Calacanis of www.mahalo.com mentioned a new service that is similar to Four Square. Basically, these site allow people, using there GPS enabled phone, like the iPhone or Droid, and update their location in hopes to meet up with similar interest people. They also let you earn special achievements for checking in at certain locations and how often you check in. That is the very simplified explanation of the services.

One of the issues with Four Square is that you need to be in a location that is listed in their city list. This is great for people that are in a metro area like San Fransisco, Los Angeles and New York, but what about people outside of the metro area. This is where Gowalla really differs. Gowalla does not require you to be in a city area. In fact, you can really be anywhere.

Gowalla allows you to mark your location and you can earn rewards for visiting other’s spots. There is a possibility to earn special stamps for visiting certain locations or completing certain check-in tasks. Check out the site by clicking the logo and explore.  It could be a lot of fun.

NOTE: Those of you that are familiar with the Pack Rat collection game on Facebook will notice that the look of Gowalla is very reminiscent. That is because it is from the same developers of the Facebook game, Alamofire. As with the Pack Rat game, this is somewhat of a collection games as well. If you like Pack Rat, you should like Gowalla.