Now that people have gotten comfortable exchanging their check-in info for social status, interesting content, or even a badge, the race is on for companies offering hard cash for location based tasks.
Historically, the Dutch have been a bit map-obsessed you could say, influenced both by a need for world maps, to lead the global navy conquests and trade, as well as local high-precision maps, to end disputes between people in an overcrowded little country. The fact that the three major navigation data suppliers (TeleAtlas, NavTeq, AND) were founded in Holland should therefore not come as a surprise. This aptitude for maps, combined with an already high adoption rate of social media and the mobile web, results in a steep adoption curve of location based services.
Answering our own question, whether Europe is missing the LBS Train, the results of the LBMA 2011 Survey are showing an even adoption rate across the Atlantic, albeit with slightly different nuances.