Piotr Oleksiak * 1.4. Business applications of geolocation – modern solutions and trends Abstract The technological development of geolocation systems has resulted in the utilization of physical location of users by a growing number of entrepreneurs. As mobile technology develops, the use of geolocation in business is becoming widespread with a new range of geomarketing techniques. Entrepreneurs therefore more often utilize geolocation in their promotional and operational activities. In this article mobile-based geolocation systems and their impact on business has been presented. Micro-location systems and their applications have been discussed together with user location based marketing tools and the use of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and their role in retail store location. Given geolocation based systems have been analysed based on their possible utilization in an organization. The availability of such systems has been discussed and trends in the application of geolocation in business analysed. Keywords: geomarketing, geolocation, foursquare, micro-location, GIS Introduction Due to the rapid development of technology entrepreneurs more often search for a competitive advantage through the use of unconventional methods. The wide- spread use of IT-based systems throughout the whole business, from project and production management software to sales support applications, has lead to the incorporation of technologies, which assist and enhance the core business systems. One of the applied technologies is geolocation. Smartphone penetration in the U.S. has grown to 67% in the fourth quarter of 2013 (How Smartphones are Changing…, http), as geolocation based services are available via mobile devices, this indicates that a growing majority of all mobile phone users have access to geolocation technologies. Smartphones are used to deli- * Department of Applied Informatics, Faculty of Management and Economics, Gdañsk University of Technology, e-mail: poleksiak@zie.pg.gda.pl.