Gowalla announced today the newest release of their service, aptly named “Gowalla 3.” There’s some major UI changes and they’re still focused on the “passport” functionality - aka “socially curated guidebook. rather than deals and coupons” and you can now push your checkin to Twitter and Tumblr.

But what has the bloggers worked up is their Foursquare integration. Facebook Places was inevitable and probably doesn’t surprise anyone. But Foursquare? That’s an interesting move. Gowalla was always #2 in the LBS race but when Facebook places rolled out they instantly became #3.

When you’re #3 how do you compete? In Gowalla’s case they’ve integrated with their biggest competitors and even let you pull in badges, tips and deals from Facebook and Foursquare. Gowalla isn’t about deals and they aren’t about Mayorships. They have always focused on the experiences. So in one way they aren’t competing head to head with the two F’s. The question remains if Foursquare will let Gowalla use their API like this.

I wonder if this approach will work. It’s interesting. What do you think?