We’re big fans of foursquare here at DOTGO (just ask those of us in the middle of a DOTGO mayor war). So we’re thrilled to announce the availability of foursquare SMS. Built with CMRL and the foursquare API, anyone with a text messaging-capable phone can use foursquare SMS to explore their city.

To get started, visit our foursquare SMS page. First you’ll need to authorize your phone with foursquare. Then, just text foursquare to DOTCOM (368266). That’s it! You can now check in, search venues, remind yourself of your to-dos, and discover tips near you–all while (and perhaps most importantly) staying in the hunt for mayor at your favorite venue.

Here’s a few things you might want to know about using foursquare SMS:

1. Since text messaging doesn’t support GPS/location services (yet), searching for a venue and tips nearby are based on your last check-in location. If you’ve changed locations (i.e. changed cities), you can search a new location by replying 3 from the main menu. Under the check-in menu, you’ll see the option to search another location.

2. Several shortcuts are available. You can text any of the following shortcuts to DOTCOM (368266):

[NEW] foursquare at (place) [ex. 'foursquare at empire state building'] – One-text check-in! This shortcut will check you into the first search result found (in this example, the first search result for “empire state building”). The search is based on the location of your last check-in, and adding the street name or zip code to the search will help refine the results [ex. 'foursquare at starbucks hudson']. By performing the search on foursquare.com, you can find out which venue will most likely come up first in the search results when using this shortcut. This command checks you in publicly, but does not broadcast to Twitter or Facebook.

foursquare checkin (place) [ex. 'foursquare checkin starbucks'] — Drops you into either the venue listing so that you can check in or the venue search if there are multiple locations (i.e. Starbucks).

foursquare tips — Pulls up tips nearby from your friends, based on your last check in location.

foursquare profile — Pulls up your profile where you can do things like check out your mayorships, history, or badges.

foursquare todo — Pulls up your to do list.

foursquare reset all — Use to revoke your phone’s authorization (this will require you to re-register your phone with a new pin if you want to use foursquare SMS again).

If you forget the shortcuts, you can always find them by texting foursquare to DOTCOM (368266) and then replying 6 for help.

3. Right now foursquare SMS is only available in the US, but we’re working quickly to expand internationally. We’ll update our foursquare SMS page as international access becomes available.

If you have any feedback, questions, or problems, leave us a note in the forums, and please like us on Facebook!