Find your place at the Where 2.0 Conference (photos)

Companies pitching augmented reality, 3D mapping, check-ins, mobile location, and Web mapping APIs are center stage this weekend in San Jose, Calif., during the Where 2.0, Conference, where it's all about location, location, location. The sold-out event, which is now in its sixth year is bigger than ever on the heels of a geolocation space war that has developers competing in the space which is expected to grow in coming years.

A few years ago, Where 2.0 felt small and underattended. Most attendees were small companies specializing in a geo location service. Today, the conference is packed, and the majority of attendees seem to be developers or companies looking to provide location data services to existing companies eager to get more location specific through APIs and back end tools.

Looking back on the first year of Foursquare, Dennis Crowley discusses his adventures in geoland and how he managed to turn real life into a game, and a business, with Foursquare check-ins during a session Wednesday.

Will Carter of Nodesnoop Labs talked about his location-based iPhone game Mobzombies, which uses the Foursquare API to generate zombies at real-world locations.

MapQuest, Google, DigitalGlobe, and Zoom Atlas are among the C3 are among the realistic map generators providing 3D imaging and mapping software.

Panel sessions during Where 2.0 touched largely on 3D imaging and augmented reality, in addition to social-networking integration and open-government data.

Patrick Meier, director of Crisis Mapping at Ushahidi, is using data gathered from mobile devices on the ground to better facilitate crisis response and disaster recovery.

Ushahidi's interactive Crisis Map of Haiti used simplae text messaging and crowdsourcing to allow for two-way communication between the community and governemnt to respond to disaster affected communities.

Layers of data are collected by C3 which automatically generate rich, immersive 3D environments.

ZoomAtlas is a geo-social-networking site that connects people and places with a wiki-like interface that ties together people and place markers over time and across communities.