Wireless Muse: Reiter's Wireless Internet Weblog

Cellular-based location services to produce huge global ramifications, good and bad

After years of kicking and screaming against incorporating location capabilities into phones — even being fined by the government for non-compliance — cellular operators in the United States finally have begun to offer it.  In many countries around the world, GPS has been a major service for years.

Location technologies — GPS, cellular triangulation, WiFi presence — will offer fascinating new and useful services for consumers and businesses.  But location also presents scary challenges that aren’t going to go away.

I wrote about the present and future development of cellular location technologies — their advantages and challenges — in my recent weekly mobile communications column in “Thinkernet” on CMP’s “Internet Evolution” Web site (see below).  Location will be one of the major controversial technologies of our time.

Help for directionally challenged, Big Brother

I have no sense of direction, so the more location help I get, the better.  One new Nokia phone, that I discuss in the column, will make it much easier for me to find where I’m walking.

But shades of Big Brother (and “Minority Report”-like targeted advertising) also are present in these new location technologies.  Our concept of personal privacy is changing, especially for kids.  And it might not be for the best.

Nokia debuts Maps 2.0 with pedestrian features, "compass"

At the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona Nokia introduced its new mapping software, Nokia Maps 2.0, that includes features for location when walking rather than just for in-vehicle navigation (see left).  This is a very useful feature that also highlights Nokia's "big picture" thinking about societal trends.  Location is based on A-GPS (Assisted GPS) and the location of known WiFi hotspots. 

This is similar to the Apple iPhone announcement at Macworld in January where Google Maps incorporates location based on triangulating cellular towers plus WiFi hotspots through a service from Skyhook Wireless.

Nokia has also added a "compass" feature in select new handsets that is, well, a compass, that tells you what direction you're facing.  As someone who has no sense of direction, this is a godsend. 

Which way do I go?

The example Nokia has used -- that's extremely relevant for me -- is the problem of exiting a subway or train station and not knowing the direction you're facing.  You can look at a map, but which way do you turn, especially if signs with the cross streets aren't in front of you?  That's we're compass comes in.

I can't wait to test this feature.  A beta version of Maps 2.0 is available for download (see below) and the commercial version is slated to be launched in the second quarter of this year.

Societal trends

One reason Nokia has begun to emphasize location technology for walking is the trend to, well, walk more as well as the increasingly use of public transportation.  More people are concerned about their carbon footprint and taking subways and buses.

London traffic is so congested that for several years the city has levied a fee for entering the city with a car, truck, etc. (see above).

I will be writing much more about location services -- especially the integration of new Internet database services -- in the months ahead.

Update (2/14/08):  Andy Abramson, the head of the public relations/marketing firm Comunicano, that's coordinating the "bloggers trip" to Barcelona from Nokia, asked if I had looked at the notebook and pen Nokia has been handing out (see below).

The notebook says on the back, "I used to be a car tire."  The pen says, "I used to be a games console."  It's part of Nokia's campaign to be greener, hence the recycling.  I like the rubbery "tire" cover.  It's easier to carry than the heavier non-flexible covers of other notebooks.

However, the plastic pen is just, well, plastic.  It won't replace my Montblanc pens!

This ties in with what I previously wrote about the societal trend to be greener, that helped influence Nokia's decision to include the pedestrian navigation and "compass" features.

Technology Review likes GPS in cellular phones

Many, many years when GPS (Global Positioning System) systems cost $25,000, I remember speaking with executives in the positioning industry, such as those at Trimble Navigation, predicting that GPS hardware eventually would decrease in price and size -- to $5,000 to be within the range of some businesses -- and, eventually, to the size of handheld systems.

Years ago that seemed like a long ways away.  And it was!

But we're finally at the point where GPS has become a consumer-priced (and sized) device, and cellular phones are going to be a big part of the GPS ecosystem....eventually.

Good news, but...

The good news is the cellular industry has begun to incorporate GPS into many handsets.  The bad news is the industry has been spending years wrestling with technical issues and -- at least as important -- financial issues -- about how to offer profitable location-based services.

The cellular operators have been ordered by the Federal Communications Commission to implement E911 service and there have been a lot of legal wrangling where the operators have been able to delay implementation.

Also, part of the blame for the delay needs to be placed upon the public safety organizations, some of which haven't sufficiently upgraded their equipment to work with E911.  And, some states have taken funds allocated for E991 and used them for non-location purchases; that seems almost criminal to me.

Still, slowly, slowly...

Despite the years of delays we're finally at the point where GPS is ready for prime time consumer use.  But we're still waiting for lots of location-based services and that's taking much longer than I had hoped.

Location and "presence" are big buzzwords in the Internet community and perhaps that will help spark additional wireless GPS services.

Wade Roush, a senior editor of Technology Review, wrote an article about taking two GPS-enabled cellular phones from Nextel for a test "drive" -- and test "walk" -- (see below) and compared them to his Garmin handheld GPS transceiver.

Good enough for consumers

His conclusion:  The Garmin beats the Nextel Motorola phones for accuracy, the screen and functionality.  "But for people who don't need to know their positions down to a thousandth of a minute, they're [the Nextel phones] just fine," he writes.

Roush picked Nextel because it's the only cellular operator in the United States that enables third party developers to access its GPS data.  Sprint PCS and Verizon Wireless do not, he says.  That's not surprising because operators want to make as much money as they can and all too often that means not allowing other content providers access to customers with having first struck a deal with the operator.

The integration of location data with applications makes so much sense.  It has been taking much too long for all of us in the U.S. to get location-enabled services.