Mobile ads are taking off but mobile specific technology, such as LAT/Long and GPS, sometimes gets messed up when the data are transferred from publishers, said panelists participating at MLM San Francisco today.

Lots of networks provide Wichita, Kansas, as the location of targeted users, said YP’s David Kurtz. Why? “Because it is smack in the middle of the country,” he said. It has nothing to do with the actual location of users. YP, however, still seeks to leverage LAT/Long to the best of its ability. “We use geofencing, really precise kinds of targeting,” said Kurtz. “It is really about understanding the needs of the business you are serving.”

Effective geotargeting can boost “high value clicks from 18 percent to 50 percent of clicks on the landing page.” Geofenced daily deals also get strong results. YP gets 5 percent to 10 percent conversion on such deals when they are integrated within a mobile banner ad. That is well above normal conversions, Kurtz noted. “That to me is the future.”

Some of the granularity that advertisers seek from geotargeted campaigns is best provided by Wi-Fi, noted JiWire Acting CEO David Staas. By default, Wi-Fi has that granularity; it is pure LAT/Long. For instance, his service can tell the difference between people sitting in a coffee shop and walking by a coffee shop. “The power of location comes to play,” he said.

One way to boost clickthrough rates is to provide geotargeted images, noted Ana Martinez, VP of tech, CityGrid. CityGrid sees a 72 percent clickthrough rate for images that have geotargeted information, such as restaurants or other locations, she said.

XAd CEO Chi-Chao Chang added that if you are going to leverage geotargeted information, make sure that advertisers have them set up. “Lots of advertisers don’t have tracking set up,” he said. The company, for instance, works with geospatial agencies that depart from ZIP code information with LAT/Long data and GPS. “If you know that information, you can do a lot more for advertisers.”