Yahoo is launching a closed alpha test of a new service code-named known as with the working title (edit: see comments) ‘FireEagle‘, which is a location-based coordination and control system. Using a set of APIs developers will be able to utilize FireEagle to gather information from users (either manually or from GPS devices) about their location and use this to coordinate with programs built around the service.

A service that comes to mind that could definitely use something like this would be Twitter – with Google picking up Jaiku last month, might Yahoo be in the Twitter purchasing mood? Mike Arrington also mentions this should help Yahoo’s own applications like Flickr which is apparently struggling to get users to geotag their photos (it is a rather cumbersome process if you don’t have a GPS auto-tagger of some sort).

This all sounds great to me, I just hate the name FireEagle. I realize many of the good one-word names are taken, but it seems like words are literally just being thrown together now (nevermind that is exactly what ParisLemon is…). FireEagle is a bit better than CircuitCity’s Firedog, which may be the most ridiculous service name I’ve ever heard (doesn’t it just conjure up a dog at a fire-hydrant doing its business?), but FireEagle sounds a bit like a dysfunctional cousin of a Phoenix. And what on Earth do either fire or eagles have to do with location-based marking?