This is a piece we did for Entrepreneur.com.  Josh Williams Founder / CEO of Gowalla gives us a look on the inside of Gowalla and where they are headed.

“Gowalla is a location-based mobile social network that inspires people to share their favorite places with friends around the world”

Source: Wikipedia

Gowalla is a primarily mobile web application that allows users to check-in to locations that they visit using their mobile device. This is achieved either through the use of dedicated applications available on Google Android, iPhone, Palm WebOS and BlackBerry, or via m.gowalla.com. There is currently no way of checking-in through the standard website. Check-ins can be pushed via Notifications to iPhones, and by linking accounts, to Twitter and Facebook.

Trips, which as of January 2010 ^[5] can be made by any user, link up to 20 related spots, falling into categories such as Nature Hikes or Pub Crawls.

Spots and Trips can be featured by Gowalla, and with this comes a special status and icon, along with being highlighted on the website. Featured spots tend to be local landmarks such as Buckingham Palace in London, whilst featured Trips are chosen for being ‘unique and exciting’^[5].

Upon checking-in, users may receive items as a bonus and these can be swapped or dropped at Spots. Users become Founders of a spot by dropping an item there. Items form a key feature within the game and each user has a vault into which they can place items they want to keep forever. Special items have been created for specific events of importance such as the 2010 Winter Olympic Games, and also as promotional items linked to real-world prizes.