Customer reward programs, conference meet-ups and coupon offerings are a few offbeat ways that marketers are using geo-location services. Then there are the outlier applications.

Indoor Use

Ever notice how most geo-location applications are for outdoor only use? That is because GPS devices and satellites makes it so easy, says Inventor Spot. The necessary geo-location technology is just beginning to emerge for similar indoor experiences. Mapping is costly and time-consuming because every shopping mall, airport, trade-show and other indoor venues is unique.

Companies are starting to work around these limitations, though.

Micello Founder and CEO Ankit Agarwal has developed hundreds of geo-location maps for indoor public venues in his factory in Chennai, India. He begins the process with a map supplied by the venue proprietors. The Micello map is then superimposed onto a Google Map to develop a mobile map to navigate indoors.

A competitor is Point Inside, which just released its Indoor Smart Map with SmartFix functionality for iPhones and iPads,  It features over 100,000 stores and service directory listings for malls in the US and Canada. There is an advertising component that is "hyper-local and hyper-relevant," Inventor Spot says.

Geo-Local Politicking

It may have taken politicians more than a few election cycles to truly make use of the internet for fundraising, campaigning and advertising - including some ads that have behavioral components to them - but they have caught up. Now, location services may well be the next web-based trend to have a substantial impact on elections, says The Next Web.

The most obvious use would be to check in at every campaign stop, it said. "Politicians could also use check-ins in-between stops to keep the press and voters up-to-date on where they are, for example 'Democratic candidate Bob Jones is on the campaign bus working on his next speech.' Of course, these kinds of status updates can be achieved with Twitter or Facebook, but by adding a location to those updates, voters would know where the candidate presently is, and if nearby, could even plan to attend a rally or speech."

On the Subway

San Francisco's BART is probably the most advanced public transit system in terms of technology - and that includes its use of geo-location technology. BART riders are using Foursquare and other location-based services to meet and connect with friends and share recommendations for things to do around stations, according to a BART survey released this week.

It found that 23% of respondents said they had earned a BART frequent rider badge; 7% said they had become "mayor" of a BART station. Thirty-eight percent of respondents said "it's more fun to ride BART" as a Foursquare user; 17% said they had used Foursquare to connect with friends on the train or at the station.

More statistics:

• Forty-three percent had used Foursquare to recommend a destination near BART in the past three months;

• 19 percent had used BART because of a Foursquare recommendation;

• Nearly a third said they typically ride BART five days per week;

• A third also said they check in regularly on Foursquare at BART stations;

• Fourteen percent said they're riding BART more often because of their interaction with Foursquare.