The dial has been turned up lately on mobile location targeting  — within social media, local search, and advertising contexts.  The latest news comes from mobile ad network MoVoxx, which has enhanced its location targeting with Useful Networks‘ PlaceWhere platform. From the release:

MoVoxx’s GeoSense™ mobile ad platform ingests location data from Useful Networks’ PlaceWhere™ platform, which connects with wireless carriers and other sources to aggregate location data. PlaceWhere is built on the principle of protecting consumer privacy, ensuring location data is never shared without explicit consent from the end user. This unique approach works on all phones connected to the network, vastly extending reach beyond traditional GPS and downloadable app-based solutions. PlaceWhere offers ad networks, mobile marketers and application developers a simple set of APIs to accelerate time-to-market and reduce costs for launching location-aware products and services.

As we discussed in a recent interview with Movoxx, it’s leading the way with location based ad targeting for small businesses (via local channel partners). The company sees potential in this SMB segment as well as national advertisers that want to target users in specific locations where they have interests.

Better location targeting will assist on both fronts, and we should see more from MoVoxx along these lines. Also expect similar moves from other mobile ad networks that will move towards the acute location targeting that the mobile device is capable of, and that advertisers will increasingly demand.

We’ll hear more on this subject at BIA/Kelsey’s Marketplaces Conference, March 22-24, where MoVoxx CEO Alec Andronikov will speak.