Location-based service
Encyclopedia
A Location-Based Service (LBS) is an information or entertainment service, accessible with mobile devices through the mobile network and utilizing the ability to make use of the geographical position of the mobile device
.
LBS can be used in a variety of contexts, such as health, indoor object search, entertainment, work, personal life, etc.
.
LBS include services to identify a location of a person or object, such as discovering the nearest banking cash machine or the whereabouts of a friend or employee. LBS include parcel tracking and vehicle tracking services. LBS can include mobile commerce
when taking the form of coupons or advertising directed at customers based on their current location. They include personalized weather services and even location-based games. They are an example of telecommunication convergence.
This concept of location based systems is not compliant with the standardized concept of real-time locating system
s and related local services (RTLS), as noted in ISO/IEC 19762-5 and ISO/IEC 24730-1.
In 1996 the US Federal Communication Commission (FCC) issued rules requiring all US mobile operators to locate emergency callers. This rule was a compromise resulting from US mobile operators seeking the support of the emergency community in order to obtain the same protection from law suits relating to emergency calls as fixed-line operators already had.
In 1997 Christopher Kingdon, of Ericsson, handed in the Location Services (LCS) stage 1 description to the joint GSM group of the European Telecommunications Standard Institute(ETSI) and the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). As a result the LCS sub-working group was created under ANSI T1P1.5. This group went on to select positioning methods and standardize Location Services (LCS), later known as Location Based Services (LBS). Nodes defined include the Gateway Mobile Location Centre (GMLC), the Serving Mobile Location Centre (SMLC) and concepts such as Mobile Originating Location Request (MO-LR), Network Induced Location Request (NI-LR) and Mobile Terminating Location Request (MT-LR).
In 2000, after approval from the worlds 12 largest telecom operators, Ericsson, Motorola and Nokia jointly formed and launched the Location Interoperability Forum Ltd (LIF). This forum first specified the Mobile Location Protocol (MLP), an interface between the telecom network and an LBS application running on a server in the Internet Domain. Then, much driven by the Vodafone group, LIF went on to specify the Location Enabling Server (LES), a "middleware", which simplifies the integration of multiple LBS with an operators infrastructure. In 2004 LIF was merged with the Open Mobile Association (OMA). A LBS work group was formed within the OMA.
The first consumer LBS-capable mobile web device was the Palm VII
, released in 1999. Two of the in-the-box applications made use of the ZIP code
-level positioning information and share the title for first consumer LBS application: the Weather.com app from The Weather Channel, and the TrafficTouch app from Sony-Etak / Metro Traffic.
The first LBS services were launched during 2000 by TeliaSonera in Sweden (friendfinder, yellow pages, houseposition, emergency call location etc.) and by EMT in Estonia (emergency call location, friend finder, TV game). TeliaSonera and EMT based their services on the Ericsson Mobile Positioning System (MPS).
Other early LBS include friendzone, launched by swisscom in Switzerland
in May 2001, using the technology of valis ltd. The service included friend finder, LBS dating and LBS games. The same service was launched later by Vodafone
Germany, Orange Portugal and Pelephone in Israel
. Microsoft's Wi-Fi-based indoor location system RADAR (2000), MIT's Cricket project using ultrasound location (2000) and Intel's Place Lab with wide-area location (2003).
The first commercial LBS service in Japan
was launched by DoCoMo
, based on triangulation
for pre-GPS handsets in July 2001, and by KDDI
for the first mobile phones equipped with GPS in December 2001. Mobile handset makers have tended to take 'upstream initiative' to embed LBS in their mobile equipment. Originally, LBS was developed by mobile carriers in partnership with mobile content providers.
In May 2002, go2
and AT&T
launched the first (US) mobile LBS local search application that used Automatic Location Identification (ALI) technologies mandated by the FCC. go2 users were able to use AT&T’s ALI to determine their location and search near that location to obtain a list of requested locations (stores, restaurants, etc.) ranked by proximity to the ALI provide by the AT&T wireless network. The ALI determined location was also used as a starting point for turn-by-turn
directions.
The main advantage is that mobile users don't have to manually specify ZIP codes or other location identifiers to use LBS, when they roam into a different location. GPS tracking
is a major enabling ingredient, utilizing access to mobile web.
In 2010, location-based services power Mobile Local Search to enable the search and discovery of persons, places, and things within an identifiable space defined by distinct parameters. These parameters are evolving. Today they include social networks, individuals, cities, neighborhoods, landmarks, and actions that are relevant to the searcher's past, current, and future location. These parameters provide structure to vertically deep and horizontally broad data categories that can stand alone or are combined to form searchable directories.
In 2011, a location-based service powered mobile phone application was released that notifies users who have indicated they are trained in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) if someone nearby is having a cardiac emergency and may require CPR.
locating the service provider gets the location based on the radio signal delay of the closest cell-phone towers (for phones without GPS features) which can be quite slow as it uses the 'voice control' channel. In the UK
, networks do not use trilateration; LBS services use a single base station, with a 'radius' of inaccuracy, to determine a phone's location. This technique was the basis of the E-911 mandate and is still used to locate cellphones as a safety measure. Newer phones and PDA
s typically have an integrated A-GPS
chip.
In order to provide a successful LBS technology the following factors must be met:
Several categories of methods can be used to find the location of the subscriber. The simple and standard solution is GPS-based LBS. Sony Ericsson
's "NearMe" is one such example. It is used to maintain knowledge of the exact location, however can be expensive for the end-user, as they would have to invest in a GPS-equipped handset. GPS is based on the concept of trilateration
, a basic geometric principle that allows finding one location if one knows its distance from other, already known locations.
of the signal from cell sites serving a mobile phone. The geographical position of the device is found out through various techniques like time difference of arrival (TDOA) or Enhanced Observed Time Difference (E-OTD).
, WLAN, infrared and/or RFID/Near Field Communication
technologies are used to match devices to nearby services. This application allows a person to access information based on their surroundings; especially suitable for using inside closed premises, restricted/ regional areas.
Another alternative is an operator- and GPS-independent location service based on access into the deep level telecoms network (SS7
). This solution enables accurate and quick determination of geographical coordinates of mobile phone numbers by providing operator-independent location data and works also for handsets that are not GPS-enabled.
Many other Local Positioning Systems
are available, especially for indoor use. GPS and GSM don't work very well indoors, so other techniques are used, including Co-Pilot Beacon for CDMA Networks, Bluetooth, UWB, RFID and Wi-Fi. But which technique provides the best solution for a specific LBS problem? A general model for this problem has been constructed at the Radboud University of Nijmegen.
More examples are listed in.
For the carrier, location-based services provide added value by enabling services such as:
In the U.S.
the FCC
requires that all carriers meet certain criteria for supporting location-based services (FCC 94-102). The mandate requires 95% of handsets to resolve within 300 meters for network-based tracking (e.g. triangulation) and 150 meters for handset-based tracking (e.g. GPS). This can be especially useful when dialing an emergency telephone number
- such as enhanced 9-1-1 in North America, or 112
in Europe
- so that the operator can dispatch emergency services such as Emergency Medical Services
, police
or firefighters to the correct location. CDMA and iDEN operators have chosen to use GPS location technology for locating emergency callers. This led to rapidly increasing penetration of GPS in iDEN and CDMA handsets in North America and other parts of the world where CDMA is widely deployed. Even though no such rules are yet in place in Japan or in Europe the number of GPS-enabled GSM/WCDMA handset models is growing fast. According to the independent wireless analyst firm Berg Insight the attach rate for GPS is growing rapidly in GSM/WCDMA handsets, from less than 8 percent in 2008 to 15 percent in 2009.
European operators are mainly using Cell-ID for locating subscribers. This is also a method used in Europe by companies such as Podsystem that are using cell based LBS as part of systems to recover stolen assets. In the US companies such as Rave Wireless
in New York are using GPS and triangulation to enable college students to notify campus police when they are in trouble. Rave Wireless and other companies with location based offerings are powered by a variety of companies, including Skyhook Wireless and Xtify.
SMS
is still the main technology carrying mobile advertising / marketing campaigns to mobile phones. A classic example of LBS applications using SMS is the delivery of mobile coupons or discounts to mobile subscribers who are near to advertising restaurants, cafes, movie theatres. The Singaporean mobile operator MobileOne
carried out such an initiative in 2007 that involved many local marketers, what was reported to be a huge success in terms of subscriber acceptance.
Companies offering location-based messaging (sometimes referred to as 'geo-messaging') include The Coupons App http://www.thecouponsapp.com(US), Centrl http://www.centrl.com(International), Zhiing (international), BluePont (US), Loopt
(US), Dodgeball (US)
and GeoMe http://www.geo-me.com(Spain).
, mobile Web, and Java
/BREW
applications).
The European Union
also provides a legal framework for data protection that may be applied for location-based services, and more particularly several European directives such as: (1) Personal data: Directive 95/46/EC); (2) Personal data in electronic communications: Directive 2002/58/EC; (3) Data Retention: Directive 2006/24/EC
. However the applicability of legal provisions to varying forms of LBS and of processing location data is unclear.
One implication of this technology is that data about a subscriber's location and historical movements is owned and controlled by the network operators, including mobile carriers and mobile content providers.
A critical article by Dobson and Fisher discusses the possibilities for misuse of location information.
Beside the legal framework there exist several technical approaches to protect privacy using privacy-enhancing technologies (PETs). Such PETs range from simplistic on/off switches to sophisticated PETs using anonymization techniques, e.g., related to k-anonymity. Today, only few LBS offer such PETs, e.g., Google Latitude
offers an on/off switch and allows to stick one's position to a free definable location. Additionally, it is an open question how users perceive and trust in different PETs. The only study that addresses user perception of state of the art PETs is.. Another set of techniques included in the PETs are the Location obfuscation
techniques, which slightly alter the location of the users in order to hide their real location while still bein able to represent their position and receive services from their LBS provider.
.
LBS can be used in a variety of contexts, such as health, indoor object search, entertainment, work, personal life, etc.
.
LBS include services to identify a location of a person or object, such as discovering the nearest banking cash machine or the whereabouts of a friend or employee. LBS include parcel tracking and vehicle tracking services. LBS can include mobile commerce
Mobile Commerce
Mobile Commerce, also known as M-Commerce or mCommerce, is the ability to conduct commerce using a mobile device, such as a mobile phone, a Personal Digital Assistant , a smartphone, or other emerging mobile equipment such as dashtop mobile devices...
when taking the form of coupons or advertising directed at customers based on their current location. They include personalized weather services and even location-based games. They are an example of telecommunication convergence.
This concept of location based systems is not compliant with the standardized concept of real-time locating system
Real-time locating system
Real-time locating systems are a type of local positioning system that allow to track and identify the location of objects in real time. Using simple, inexpensive badges or tags attached to the objects, readers receive wireless signals from these tags to determine their locations...
s and related local services (RTLS), as noted in ISO/IEC 19762-5 and ISO/IEC 24730-1.
History
Research forerunners of today's location-based services are the infrared Active Badge system (1989–1993), The Ericsson-Europolitan GSM LBS trial ran during 1995 by Jörgen Johansson and the master thesis written by Nokia employee Timo Rantalainen, in 1994.In 1996 the US Federal Communication Commission (FCC) issued rules requiring all US mobile operators to locate emergency callers. This rule was a compromise resulting from US mobile operators seeking the support of the emergency community in order to obtain the same protection from law suits relating to emergency calls as fixed-line operators already had.
In 1997 Christopher Kingdon, of Ericsson, handed in the Location Services (LCS) stage 1 description to the joint GSM group of the European Telecommunications Standard Institute(ETSI) and the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). As a result the LCS sub-working group was created under ANSI T1P1.5. This group went on to select positioning methods and standardize Location Services (LCS), later known as Location Based Services (LBS). Nodes defined include the Gateway Mobile Location Centre (GMLC), the Serving Mobile Location Centre (SMLC) and concepts such as Mobile Originating Location Request (MO-LR), Network Induced Location Request (NI-LR) and Mobile Terminating Location Request (MT-LR).
In 2000, after approval from the worlds 12 largest telecom operators, Ericsson, Motorola and Nokia jointly formed and launched the Location Interoperability Forum Ltd (LIF). This forum first specified the Mobile Location Protocol (MLP), an interface between the telecom network and an LBS application running on a server in the Internet Domain. Then, much driven by the Vodafone group, LIF went on to specify the Location Enabling Server (LES), a "middleware", which simplifies the integration of multiple LBS with an operators infrastructure. In 2004 LIF was merged with the Open Mobile Association (OMA). A LBS work group was formed within the OMA.
The first consumer LBS-capable mobile web device was the Palm VII
Palm VII
The Palm VII was a personal digital assistant made by the Palm Computing division of 3Com. The device featured an antenna used for wireless data communication, a first for a Palm device. Connectivity was provided through the Mobitex network, under the now defunct Palm.net service...
, released in 1999. Two of the in-the-box applications made use of the ZIP code
ZIP Code
ZIP codes are a system of postal codes used by the United States Postal Service since 1963. The term ZIP, an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan, is properly written in capital letters and was chosen to suggest that the mail travels more efficiently, and therefore more quickly, when senders use the...
-level positioning information and share the title for first consumer LBS application: the Weather.com app from The Weather Channel, and the TrafficTouch app from Sony-Etak / Metro Traffic.
The first LBS services were launched during 2000 by TeliaSonera in Sweden (friendfinder, yellow pages, houseposition, emergency call location etc.) and by EMT in Estonia (emergency call location, friend finder, TV game). TeliaSonera and EMT based their services on the Ericsson Mobile Positioning System (MPS).
Other early LBS include friendzone, launched by swisscom in Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
in May 2001, using the technology of valis ltd. The service included friend finder, LBS dating and LBS games. The same service was launched later by Vodafone
Vodafone
Vodafone Group Plc is a global telecommunications company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the world's largest mobile telecommunications company measured by revenues and the world's second-largest measured by subscribers , with around 341 million proportionate subscribers as of...
Germany, Orange Portugal and Pelephone in Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
. Microsoft's Wi-Fi-based indoor location system RADAR (2000), MIT's Cricket project using ultrasound location (2000) and Intel's Place Lab with wide-area location (2003).
The first commercial LBS service in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
was launched by DoCoMo
DoCoMo
DoCoMo is a trademark of the NTT DoCoMo corporation of Japan, used in its home market and in India in partnership with Tata Teleservices. It is an acronym of the phrase "Do communications over the mobile network."See also the following mobile phone operators:...
, based on triangulation
Triangulation
In trigonometry and geometry, triangulation is the process of determining the location of a point by measuring angles to it from known points at either end of a fixed baseline, rather than measuring distances to the point directly...
for pre-GPS handsets in July 2001, and by KDDI
KDDI
is a Japanese telecommunications operator formed in October 2000 through the merger of DDI Corp., KDD Corp., and IDO Corp. It has its headquarters in the Garden Air Tower in Iidabashi, Chiyoda, Tokyo....
for the first mobile phones equipped with GPS in December 2001. Mobile handset makers have tended to take 'upstream initiative' to embed LBS in their mobile equipment. Originally, LBS was developed by mobile carriers in partnership with mobile content providers.
In May 2002, go2
Go2
go2 Media is a mobile media company based in Boston, Massachusetts. go2 Media operates go2.com, a mobile entertainment guide that provides users with movie times, concert information, tv listings, local event listings and entertainment recommendations from the go2 national network of local editors...
and AT&T
AT&T
AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications corporation headquartered in Whitacre Tower, Dallas, Texas, United States. It is the largest provider of mobile telephony and fixed telephony in the United States, and is also a provider of broadband and subscription television services...
launched the first (US) mobile LBS local search application that used Automatic Location Identification (ALI) technologies mandated by the FCC. go2 users were able to use AT&T’s ALI to determine their location and search near that location to obtain a list of requested locations (stores, restaurants, etc.) ranked by proximity to the ALI provide by the AT&T wireless network. The ALI determined location was also used as a starting point for turn-by-turn
Turn-by-turn navigation
Turn-by-turn navigation is a feature of some GPS navigation devices where directions for a selected route are continually presented to the user in the form of spoken and visual instructions. The system keeps the user up-to-date about the best route to the destination, and is often updated according...
directions.
The main advantage is that mobile users don't have to manually specify ZIP codes or other location identifiers to use LBS, when they roam into a different location. GPS tracking
GPS tracking
A GPS tracking unit is a device that uses the Global Positioning System to determine the precise location of a vehicle, person, or other asset to which it is attached and to record the position of the asset at regular intervals...
is a major enabling ingredient, utilizing access to mobile web.
In 2010, location-based services power Mobile Local Search to enable the search and discovery of persons, places, and things within an identifiable space defined by distinct parameters. These parameters are evolving. Today they include social networks, individuals, cities, neighborhoods, landmarks, and actions that are relevant to the searcher's past, current, and future location. These parameters provide structure to vertically deep and horizontally broad data categories that can stand alone or are combined to form searchable directories.
In 2011, a location-based service powered mobile phone application was released that notifies users who have indicated they are trained in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) if someone nearby is having a cardiac emergency and may require CPR.
Control Plane Locating
Sometimes referred to as positioning, with control planeControl plane
In routing, the control plane is the part of the router architecture that is concerned with drawing the network map, or the information in a routing table that defines what to do with incoming packets. Control plane functions, such as participating in routing protocols, run in the architectural...
locating the service provider gets the location based on the radio signal delay of the closest cell-phone towers (for phones without GPS features) which can be quite slow as it uses the 'voice control' channel. In the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, networks do not use trilateration; LBS services use a single base station, with a 'radius' of inaccuracy, to determine a phone's location. This technique was the basis of the E-911 mandate and is still used to locate cellphones as a safety measure. Newer phones and PDA
PDA
A PDA is most commonly a Personal digital assistant, also known as a Personal data assistant, a mobile electronic device.PDA may also refer to:In science, medicine and technology:...
s typically have an integrated A-GPS
Assisted GPS
Assisted GPS, generally abbreviated as A-GPS or aGPS, is a system which can, under certain conditions, improve the startup performance, or time-to-first-fix of a GPS satellite-based positioning system. It is used extensively with GPS-capable cellular phones as its development was accelerated by...
chip.
In order to provide a successful LBS technology the following factors must be met:
- Coordinates accuracy requirements that are determined by the relevant service;
- Lowest possible cost;
- Minimal impact on network and equipment.
Several categories of methods can be used to find the location of the subscriber. The simple and standard solution is GPS-based LBS. Sony Ericsson
Sony Ericsson
Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB is a joint venture established on October 1, 2001 by the Japanese consumer electronics company Sony Corporation and the Swedish telecommunications company Ericsson to manufacture mobile phones....
's "NearMe" is one such example. It is used to maintain knowledge of the exact location, however can be expensive for the end-user, as they would have to invest in a GPS-equipped handset. GPS is based on the concept of trilateration
Trilateration
In geometry, trilateration is the process of determinating absolute or relative locations of points by measurement of distances, using the geometry of circles, spheres or triangles. In addition to its interest as a geometric problem, trilateration does have practical applications in surveying and...
, a basic geometric principle that allows finding one location if one knows its distance from other, already known locations.
GSM Localization
GSM localization is the second option. Finding the location of a mobile device in relation to its cell site is another way to find out the location of an object or a person. It relies on various means of multilaterationMultilateration
Multilateration is a navigation technique based on the measurement of the difference in distance to two or more stations at known locations that broadcast signals at known times. Unlike measurements of absolute distance or angle, measuring the difference in distance results in an infinite number of...
of the signal from cell sites serving a mobile phone. The geographical position of the device is found out through various techniques like time difference of arrival (TDOA) or Enhanced Observed Time Difference (E-OTD).
Others
Another example is Near LBS (NLBS), in which local-range technologies such as BluetoothBluetooth
Bluetooth is a proprietary open wireless technology standard for exchanging data over short distances from fixed and mobile devices, creating personal area networks with high levels of security...
, WLAN, infrared and/or RFID/Near Field Communication
Near Field Communication
Near field communication, or NFC, allows for simplified transactions, data exchange, and wireless connections between two devices in proximity to each other, usually by no more than a few centimeters. It is expected to become a widely used system for making payments by smartphone in the United States...
technologies are used to match devices to nearby services. This application allows a person to access information based on their surroundings; especially suitable for using inside closed premises, restricted/ regional areas.
Another alternative is an operator- and GPS-independent location service based on access into the deep level telecoms network (SS7
SS7
SS-7 can stand for:* Signaling System #7, a set of telephone signaling protocols.* The R-16 missile, with NATO reporting name SS-7 Saddler.* China Railways SS7, an electric locomotive model in China.* Super Socket 7, a chip socket introduced by AMD...
). This solution enables accurate and quick determination of geographical coordinates of mobile phone numbers by providing operator-independent location data and works also for handsets that are not GPS-enabled.
Many other Local Positioning Systems
Local Positioning Systems
A local positioning system is a navigation system that provides location information in all weather, anywhere within the coverage of the network, where there is an unobstructed line of sight to three or more signaling beacons of which the exact position on earth is known...
are available, especially for indoor use. GPS and GSM don't work very well indoors, so other techniques are used, including Co-Pilot Beacon for CDMA Networks, Bluetooth, UWB, RFID and Wi-Fi. But which technique provides the best solution for a specific LBS problem? A general model for this problem has been constructed at the Radboud University of Nijmegen.
LBS applications
Some examples of location-based services are:- Recommending social events in a city
- Requesting the nearest business or service, such as an ATM or restaurant
- Turn by turn navigation to any address
- Locating people on a map displayed on the mobile phone
- Receiving alerts, such as notification of a sale on gas or warning of a traffic jam
- Location-based mobile advertising
- Asset recovery combined with active RF to find, for example, stolen assets in containers where GPS wouldn't work
- Games where your location is part of the game play, for example your movements during your day make your avatar move in the game or your position unlocks content.
- Real-time Q&A revolving around restaurants, services, and other venues
More examples are listed in.
For the carrier, location-based services provide added value by enabling services such as:
- Resource tracking with dynamic distribution. Taxis, service people, rental equipment, doctors, fleet scheduling.
- Resource tracking. Objects without privacy controls, using passive sensors or RF tags, such as packages and train boxcars.
- Finding someone or something. Person by skill (doctor), business directory, navigation, weather, traffic, room schedules, stolen phone, emergency calls.
- Proximity-based notification (push or pull). Targeted advertising, buddy list, common profile matching (dating), automatic airport check-in.
- Proximity-based actuation (push or pull). Payment based upon proximity (EZ pass, toll watch).
In the U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
the FCC
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
requires that all carriers meet certain criteria for supporting location-based services (FCC 94-102). The mandate requires 95% of handsets to resolve within 300 meters for network-based tracking (e.g. triangulation) and 150 meters for handset-based tracking (e.g. GPS). This can be especially useful when dialing an emergency telephone number
Emergency telephone number
Many countries' public telephone networks have a single emergency telephone number, sometimes known as the universal emergency telephone number or occasionally the emergency services number, that allows a caller to contact local emergency services for assistance. The emergency telephone number may...
- such as enhanced 9-1-1 in North America, or 112
1-1-2
112 is the principal emergency telephone number that can be dialed free of charge from any telephone or any mobile phone in order to reach emergency services in the European Union , its candidates for accession, members of the EEA agreement, as well as several other countries in the world...
in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
- so that the operator can dispatch emergency services such as Emergency Medical Services
Emergency medical services
Emergency medical services are a type of emergency service dedicated to providing out-of-hospital acute medical care and/or transport to definitive care, to patients with illnesses and injuries which the patient, or the medical practitioner, believes constitutes a medical emergency...
, police
Police
The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...
or firefighters to the correct location. CDMA and iDEN operators have chosen to use GPS location technology for locating emergency callers. This led to rapidly increasing penetration of GPS in iDEN and CDMA handsets in North America and other parts of the world where CDMA is widely deployed. Even though no such rules are yet in place in Japan or in Europe the number of GPS-enabled GSM/WCDMA handset models is growing fast. According to the independent wireless analyst firm Berg Insight the attach rate for GPS is growing rapidly in GSM/WCDMA handsets, from less than 8 percent in 2008 to 15 percent in 2009.
European operators are mainly using Cell-ID for locating subscribers. This is also a method used in Europe by companies such as Podsystem that are using cell based LBS as part of systems to recover stolen assets. In the US companies such as Rave Wireless
Rave Wireless
Rave Mobile Safety designs applications that turn student and employee cell phones into powerful safety devices.Rave’s software keeps over 1.5 million individuals safe, at over 150 organizations nationwide...
in New York are using GPS and triangulation to enable college students to notify campus police when they are in trouble. Rave Wireless and other companies with location based offerings are powered by a variety of companies, including Skyhook Wireless and Xtify.
Mobile messaging
Mobile messaging plays an essential role in LBS. Messaging, especially SMS, has been used in combination with various LBS applications, such as location-based mobile advertising.SMS
SMS
SMS is a form of text messaging communication on phones and mobile phones. The terms SMS or sms may also refer to:- Computer hardware :...
is still the main technology carrying mobile advertising / marketing campaigns to mobile phones. A classic example of LBS applications using SMS is the delivery of mobile coupons or discounts to mobile subscribers who are near to advertising restaurants, cafes, movie theatres. The Singaporean mobile operator MobileOne
MobileOne
M1 Limited is a telecommunications company in Singapore. Launched in April 1997, it was Singapore's second mobile operator after SingTel and supervene by StarHub, Singapore's third mobile operator....
carried out such an initiative in 2007 that involved many local marketers, what was reported to be a huge success in terms of subscriber acceptance.
Companies offering location-based messaging (sometimes referred to as 'geo-messaging') include The Coupons App http://www.thecouponsapp.com(US), Centrl http://www.centrl.com(International), Zhiing (international), BluePont (US), Loopt
Loopt
Loopt is a company based in Mountain View, California, United States. Loopt produces mobile Location-based services that allow users to discover the world around them, and find and enjoy the friends, places and events around them....
(US), Dodgeball (US)
Dodgeball (service)
Dodgeball was a location-based social networking software provider for mobile devices. Users text their location to the service, which then notifies them of crushes, friends, friends' friends and interesting venues nearby...
and GeoMe http://www.geo-me.com(Spain).
Privacy issues
With the passing of the Can Spam Act in 2005, it became illegal in the United States to send any message to the end user without the end user specifically opting-in. This put an additional challenge on LBS applications as far as 'carrier-centric' services were concerned. As a result, there has been a focus on user-centric location-based services and applications which give the user control of the experience, typically by opting in first via a website or mobile interface (such as SMSText messaging
Text messaging, or texting, refers to the exchange of brief written text messages between fixed-line phone or mobile phone and fixed or portable devices over a network...
, mobile Web, and Java
Java (Sun)
Java refers to several computer software products and specifications from Sun Microsystems, a subsidiary of Oracle Corporation, that together provide a system for developing application software and deploying it in a cross-platform environment...
/BREW
Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless
Brew is an application development platform created by Qualcomm, originally for CDMA mobile phones, featuring third party applications such as mobile games. It is offered in some feature phones but not in smart phones...
applications).
The European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
also provides a legal framework for data protection that may be applied for location-based services, and more particularly several European directives such as: (1) Personal data: Directive 95/46/EC); (2) Personal data in electronic communications: Directive 2002/58/EC; (3) Data Retention: Directive 2006/24/EC
Data Retention Directive
The Data Retention Directive, more formally "Directive 2006/24/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 March 2006 on the retention of data generated or processed in connection with the provision of publicly available electronic communications services or of public communications...
. However the applicability of legal provisions to varying forms of LBS and of processing location data is unclear.
One implication of this technology is that data about a subscriber's location and historical movements is owned and controlled by the network operators, including mobile carriers and mobile content providers.
A critical article by Dobson and Fisher discusses the possibilities for misuse of location information.
Beside the legal framework there exist several technical approaches to protect privacy using privacy-enhancing technologies (PETs). Such PETs range from simplistic on/off switches to sophisticated PETs using anonymization techniques, e.g., related to k-anonymity. Today, only few LBS offer such PETs, e.g., Google Latitude
Google Latitude
Google Latitude is a location-aware mobile app developed by Google as a successor to their earlier SMS-based service Dodgeball. Latitude allows a mobile phone user to allow certain people to view their current location. Via their own Google Account, the user's cell phone location is mapped on...
offers an on/off switch and allows to stick one's position to a free definable location. Additionally, it is an open question how users perceive and trust in different PETs. The only study that addresses user perception of state of the art PETs is.. Another set of techniques included in the PETs are the Location obfuscation
Location obfuscation
Location obfuscation is a technique used in location-based services or information systems to protect the location of the users by slightly altering, substituting or generalizing their location in order to avoid reflecting their real position....
techniques, which slightly alter the location of the users in order to hide their real location while still bein able to represent their position and receive services from their LBS provider.
Industry Value
In 1999, analysts predicted that the industry would be worth USD 20 billion annually by 2005.See also
- CartographyCartographyCartography is the study and practice of making maps. Combining science, aesthetics, and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality can be modeled in ways that communicate spatial information effectively.The fundamental problems of traditional cartography are to:*Set the map's...
- Dashtop mobileDashtop mobileDashtop mobile equipment refers to wireless mobile devices mounted on the vehicle dashboard. Dashtop mobile equipment includes satellite radios, GPS navigation, OnStar, mobile TV, HD radio, vehicle tracking system, MVEDR and Broadband Wireless Access devices. Currently, the dashtop mobile devices...
- Enterprise digital assistantEnterprise digital assistantAn enterprise digital assistant is a handheld computer, born of the personal digital assistant popularity which was adapted for extensive, more robust usage within the SME and Enterprise business applications as a data capture mobile device.Over the years, these business applications have grown...
- FIDIS
- Geo (marketing)Geo (marketing)As a general term, Geomarketing is the integration of Geographical intelligence into all marketing aspects including sales and distribution. Geomarketing Research is the use of geographic parameters in research methodology starting from sampling, data collection, analysis, and...
- Fire EagleFire EagleFire Eagle is a Yahoo! owned service that acts as a store for a user's location. It was created at Yahoo Brickhouse by a team which included among others Tom Coates, Simon Willison, and Seth Fitzsimmons....
- Geosocial networkingGeosocial networkingGeosocial Networking is a type of social networking in which geographic services and capabilities such as geocoding and geotagging are used to enable additional social dynamics. User-submitted location data or geolocation techniques can allow social networks to connect and coordinate users with...
- Google LatitudeGoogle LatitudeGoogle Latitude is a location-aware mobile app developed by Google as a successor to their earlier SMS-based service Dodgeball. Latitude allows a mobile phone user to allow certain people to view their current location. Via their own Google Account, the user's cell phone location is mapped on...
- GeoloqiGeoloqiGeoloqi is a private, real-time mobile and web platform for securely sharing location data, with mobile apps available on iPhone and Android. Geoloqi can track a user’s location at all times, and use this data to provide various services. A user can leave himself a note to receive when he gets to a...
- Location-based gameLocation-based gameA location-based game is one in which the game play somehow evolves and progresses via a player's location. Thus, location-based games almost always support some kind of localization technology, for example by using satellite positioning like GPS."Urban gaming" or "Street Games" are typically...
s - Location-based media
- Mobile datingMobile datingMobile dating services, also known as cell dating, cellular dating, or cell phone dating, allow individuals to chat, flirt, meet, and possibly become romantically involved by means of text messaging, mobile chatting, and the mobile web....
- Mobile identity managementMobile identity managementThe mobile phone in addition to a wallet and house keys has become one of the essentials to take with you when leaving the house. By storing all the technical necessary applications on a SIM card, the mobile phone has turned into a device for managing each person’s digital identity.Mobile Identity...
- Mobile local searchMobile local searchMobile Local Search is a technology that lets people search for local things using mobile equipment such as mobile phones, PDAs, and other mobile devices...
- Mobile phone trackingMobile phone trackingMobile phone tracking refers to the attaining of the current position of a mobile phone, stationary or moving. Localization may occur either via multilateration of radio signals between radio towers of the network and the phone, or simply via GPS...
- Mobile positioning
- Real-time locating
- Reverse geocodingReverse geocodingReverse geocoding is the process of back coding of a point location to a readable address or place name. This permits the identification of nearby street addresses, places, and/or areal subdivisions such as neighbourhoods, county, state, or country...
- Near-me area networkNear-me area networkA near-me area network is a logical communication network built on top of existing physical network infrastructures that focuses on communication among wireless devices in close proximity...
- Local Positioning SystemsLocal Positioning SystemsA local positioning system is a navigation system that provides location information in all weather, anywhere within the coverage of the network, where there is an unobstructed line of sight to three or more signaling beacons of which the exact position on earth is known...