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Location-based service

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Location Based Services (LBS) are information and entertainment services accessible with mobile devices through the mobile network and utilizing the ability to make use of the geographical position of the mobile device.[1][2][3] LBS services 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 services include parcel tracking and vehicle tracking services. They include personalized weather services and even location-based games. They are an example of telecommunication convergence.

History

The first LBS services were launched commercially in Japan by KDDI in 2001. The first book to discuss location-based services was Services for UMTS by Ahonen & Barrett (editors) in 2002. 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.

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 ingredient for making it possible, utilizing access to mobile web.

How it works

With control plane 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 [4] . 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 PDAs typically have an A-GPS chip built into the phone.

Using a Server User Plane Level or SUPL network, the A-GPS chip can make its own locate rather than relying on the 'control' channel. This technique is faster. This LBS technique is typically a 'opt-in' technique meaning the phone owner decides whether or not to turn on the A-GPS device.

LBS applications

Some examples of location-based services are:

  • 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

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. 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 dialling 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. 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.

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 SMS, mobile Web, and Java/BREW applications).

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.

See also

Generic articles

References

  1. ^ "Foundations of Location Based Services", Stefan Steiniger, Moritz Neun and Alistair Edwardes, University of Zurich
  2. ^ "Permanent Reference Document SE.23: Location Based Services“, GSM_Association
  3. ^ "Location Based Services for Mobiles: Technologies and Standards“, Shu Wang, Jungwon Min and Byung K. Yi, IEEE International Conference on Communication (ICC) 2008, Beijing, China
  4. ^ "Location Based Services for Mobiles: Technologies and Standards“, Shu Wang, Jungwon Min and Byung K. Yi, IEEE International Conference on Communication (ICC) 2008, Beijing, China
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