San Francisco start-up LightPole has come out with a location-based mobile content service that helps users find nearby restaurants, shops and such.

An IDG News Service article on the company gives this example of how the service could work, which it got from LightPole CEO Doug Klein.

As an example, a phone customer could find himself with two hours to spare in lower Manhattan....LightPole could feature a service from a company that does salon bookings in Manhattan. The phone user could check LightPole to find if that booking service has any salons nearby with openings during the two-hour windows, and then book an appointment. Later, the user could add a review of the salon.

LightPole does require the user to download a Java client, which might not appeal to some users.

According to the article, the service is launching with eight content partners.