The School of Mobile Vol. 2 - The Detail Chapter 3 - Mobile Technology and Solu�ons
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What are Loca�on Based Services?
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Quite simply, loca�on based services are quite simply an informa�on and/or entertainment
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service, accessible via a mobile device through a wireless carrier that u�lises the ability to know
the geographical posi�on of the mobile device.
Some core drivers of LBS:
GPS - Global Posi�oning System. More and more handsets are being released that are GPS enabled.
Nokia is currently the market leader with respect to having integrated advanced naviga�onal
features into their devices and Nokia could be said to be ‘geo-ready.’ This is clearly a standout
feature with respect to Nokia but will only translate into a revenue stream if they can bundle geo-
ready handsets with compelling LBS packages �ed to compelling content that they can charge for.
Nokia is certainly one to watch given their declared posi�on to compete aggressively using the SaaS
(So�ware as a Service) model. Nokia’s ‘Comes with music’ offering is a clear example of linking
handsets to innova�ve so�ware offerings.
Integrated/Hybrid Posi�oning Systems - These are technologies that are now available to both
companies and end-users that combine GPS (can be slow), Cell-tower triangula�on (is inaccurate)
and Wi-Fi (has limited u�lity by itself) posi�oning and as such they allow faster, more accurate and
more versa�le loca�on lookups. An example of a technology pla�orm that combines these three
elements is the solu�on provided by Skyhook Wireless. Google La�tude uses a similar underlying
technology to determine loca�on of its users.
Geo-tagging - This is the process of tagging a par�cular digital artefact such as a photo, an RSS
feed and so on with geographic informa�on which most commonly is La�tude and Longitude but
can also include other elements such as al�tude, place-names and so on. The technical term is
‘geospa�al metadata.’ Geo-tagging is more than just this though; it is about ge�ng every loca�on,
whether The Eiffel Tower or the local post office, and applying a geographical iden�fier. Clearly this
has powerful implica�ons given the ability of clever loca�on-enabled so�ware to geo-target based
on its ability to leverage geotagged media. This is par�cularly interes�ng in the travel industry
with respect to geo-tagged user generated content. It is possible to buy many digital cameras that
automa�cally geo-tag a photo when it is taken. Furthermore, some smartphones have also been
released recently with automa�c point-and-shoot geo-tagging func�onality. At this point, the vast
majority of geo-tagged informa�on has been created by curious individuals that have collec�vely
gone through the painstaking process of geo-tagging everything. Mats Diedrichsen, head of e-
Commerce at Hostelbookers has said that over 98% of all photos used on their website and in their
archives of various proper�es are geo-tagged which opens powerful opportuni�es to link these
geo-tagged artefacts to loca�on-enabled applica�ons.
Google - Google has been a key driver for the increasing understanding of and fascina�on with
loca�on from an end-user standpoint. Through the release of pioneering web-based apps such
as Google Earth, Google Maps and most influen�al of all Google La�tude (only released in Feb
2009). Fire Eagle by Yahoo! has also had a large impact in terms of mainstreaming and embedding
end-users in a loca�on-enabled digital world. Loca�on based services are interes�ng because they,
through mobile devices link the physical and the digital worlds like nothing else has done before.
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