New User - Installing Applications ie Android SDK - Where To ? ( Equivalent of Program Files ? )

New User - Installing Applications ie Android SDK - Where To ? (
Equivalent of Program Files ? )

it is taking me some time to find my way around Ubuntu and while I know I
can Sudo an App like PCManFM to create directories I do not know where the
best place to create a folder for the Android SDK (
http://developer.android.com/sdk/installing/index.html ) which is a zip
file.
To create from the root I have to sudo then Chown ( although I do not know
the right group ) which seems a long way round....
So in summary where is Ubuntus equivalent 'Program Files' folder where as
a user I have full control with out going sudo each time ?
If there is not one advice would be welcome.
Thanks
T