Gowalla, a “geosocial” service, has released the third version of its iPhone app and this one makes it easier to connect with one of Gowalla’s main competitors: Foursquare (News - Alert).

In a company blog post, Gowalla CEO Josh Williams says the location-based service is “now the easiest and best way to keep up with your friends across services with a combined activity tab that merges the whereabouts of your Gowalla, Facebook (News - Alert) and Foursquare friends.”

Gowalla also allows users to “check in” on Facebook Places and Foursquare, as well as share with Twitter and Tumblr, according to the blog post.

CNNMoney.com explains location-based services, such as Gowalla, use “GPS-enabled smartphones and other devices” so users can “broadcast their whereabouts and favorite hangout spots to chosen groups of friends -- or, for the uninhibited, the world at large.”

The Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life project reported recently that about 4 percent of adults online use a location-based service such as Foursquare or Gowalla.

The services let users share their location with friends and find other users “who are nearby,” Pew (News - Alert) reports.

Pew estimates that about 1 percent of Internet users are using these services on a given day.

The market for this segment appears to be competitive, even though Gowalla has significantly smaller numbers than Foursquare. CNNMoney.com reports that Foursquare has about five million members and Gowalla has about 600,000.

In the third version, Gowalla has added a faster check-in interface. The interface has an auto-fill feature. The company claims to get the right answer about 80 percent of the time.

Among the other new features in Gowalla 3 are:

• Users can view “highlights” that have been added to a “spot” in addition to adding one of their own highlights.
• Users can employ a “bookmark” to “flag a favorite spot.”
• Users can write a “Note” for another user or themselves at any location. The recipient will get the note the next time they “check in” at that location.
• There is also an improved design.

Users can download Gowalla 3 for iPhone at iTunes. Gowalla 3 for Android (News - Alert), iPad and Blackberry will be introduced to consumers soon, the company says.

In other company news, TMCnet reported recently that Gowalla and Disney (News - Alert) Parks created a partnership that is connected to Disneyland and Walt Disney World Resorts, as well as custom pages at Gowalla.com.