Monday through Wednesday in New York City TechCrunch is holding its Disrupt Battlefield competition in which hopeful founders and entrepreneurs submit their young, unseen start-up companies for the opportunity to try winning the $50,000 prize while launching in front of an all-star panel made up of innovators, angel investors, venture capitalists and tech influencers.  Monday featured three Battlefields: Disrupting Commerce, Disrupting Location and Disrupting Search and Discovery.  These start-ups made presentations in the Disrupting Location category:

SpotOn ^[1]takes into account existing data such as Foursquare check-ins and Facebook Likes to recommend places to visit that are tailored to your preferences and those of your friends. SpotOn maps take into account which one of your friends has been to a particular venue or who has rated a particular one highly in order to offer suggestions.

Karizma ^[2]is a location-based video chat messenger with which people can video chat with others who are geographically close to them based on age, friends in common, language and interests, and whether they are on a 3G or Wifi Network. Karizma could also be used to call a store or a local business to see whether they are busy or if reservations are available.

Sonar ^[3]lets you ping specific locations to show you who is there, and most importantly, it also tells you why certain people will be more relevant to you than others. The app relies on location data from Foursquare, but it also taps into your Facebook and Twitter accounts to get a good sense of your tastes and friends.

Arrived ^[4]lets you select a place and add people to notify when you get there. The people selected can either opt-in to be notified or to notify you upon their arrival to that specific location. Combining geo-fencing, auto check-ins, and notifications, Arrived wants to provide value to consumers without requiring them to change any behavior patterns or check-in.

Churn Labs Gnonstop Gnomes ^[5] is part social game, part mobile photo app. You take pictures with your iPhone or Android camera and insert an image of a gnome into the picture. The app marks the location of each picture and you can follow where the gnome has been. The social part comes in when somebody else with the same app “Lyfts” the gnome from your phone to theirs.

Read more about SpotOn ^[1].
Read more about Karizma ^[2].
Read more about Sonar ^[3].
Read more about Arrived ^[4].
Read more about Churn Labs Gnonstop Gnomes ^[5].