NASA And Gowalla Launch Partnership With Search For Moon Rocks
WASHINGTON -- NASA and Gowalla, a mobile and web service, have partnered to bring users one small step closer to the universe. The partnership populates Gowalla with NASA-related information and four virtual items -- moon rocks, a NASA patch, a spacesuit and a space shuttle -- that can be found at agency-related venues."NASA's partnership with Gowalla is a creative way for us to reach out and share information about what the nation's space agency is doing," said Bob Jacobs, NASA's deputy associate administrator for communications at NASA Headquarters in Washington.
Gowalla users who virtually "check-in" at NASA-related venues and
places of discovery via their smart phone have a chance to find the
four agency virtual items which can be swapped for other items,
dropped in locations or kept in their vault. Anyone with a Gowalla
account who collects three of the four items will receive a special
pin in their Gowalla Passport. In addition, the first 100 people to
collect three items will win the special edition NASA+Gowalla Map:
Search for the Moon Rocks by JESS3, a creative agency that
specializes in data visualization.
"Gowalla's mission is to inspire discovery by connecting people with
the places around them," said Andy Ellwood, director of business
development for Gowalla. "Space is one of the most interesting places
for human exploration, and this partnership with NASA encourages our
community to visit places in their world to learn more about our universe."
The partnership enables a NASA account and an account for astronaut
Mike Massimino linked to the agency's primary Twitter account, @NASA,
and Massimino's Twitter account, @Astro_Mike. NASA and Massimino also
will drop virtual items for users to find and collect throughout the nation.
Gowalla users can find virtual moon rocks by checking in to any
location where a real one is on display. The United States
successfully brought lunar samples back to Earth during the Apollo
11, 12, 14, 15, 16, and 17 missions. NASA provides a number of lunar
samples for display at museums, planetariums and scientific
expositions around the world. Most lunar displays are open to the public.
Gowalla users can find the virtual NASA patch, spacesuit and space
shuttles by checking in to NASA visitor centers, agency-related
locations, or one of the more than 400 museums, science centers,
planetariums, observatories, parks, nature centers, zoos and
aquariums that are part of NASA's Museum Alliance.
To view the map and connect with NASA and @Astro_Mike on Gowalla and
other social media applications, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/connect
Gowalla is available on iPhone, Blackberry, Android, Palm and the
iPad. For more information about Gowalla, visit:
http://www.gowalla.com
For information about lunar sample display locations, visit:
http://curator.jsc.nasa.gov/lunar/displays/displays.cfm
For more information about NASA's Museum Alliance, visit:
https://informal.jpl.nasa.gov/museum
Source: NASA
