1. A method comprising: receiving, from a mobile device, a request for shared categorical information, the request includes a user-specified category, the shared categorical information being requested comprising information on one or more items of interest that are designated as belonging to the category by at least one other mobile device, wherein the categorical information is provided for sharing by the other mobile device; receiving, from the mobile device, location information identifying a geographic location of the mobile device; determining location-based categorical information using the user-specified category and the location information, the location-based categorical information comprising information on at least one of the one or more items of interest that belong to the user-specified category, wherein the at least one item satisfies a proximity condition in relation to the geographic location; and providing the location-based categorical information to the mobile device for representation as a graphical object in a map on a display associated with the mobile device.