November/December 2001

Where Youre At Is Where Its At

BY JEFF CORTLEY

This provides a great illustration of how location-based technology can be used to create cool services that can make peoples lives at least a little, and probably a lot better. And its not far off. In London there is already a service that allows you to use a wireless application protocol (WAP)-enabled phone to download a map with directions to nearby public restrooms. These same capabilities could be used to locate the nearest taxi stand, or subway stop, or ATM machine.

Location information will also be extremely valuable as a tool for sifting the wheat from the chaff on the Internet. The idea of the mobile Internet is to link wireless telephone networks with the Web so people can use their telephone as a browser to surf the Net. However, in a mobile environment most people wont have the patience to scroll through page after page of information to find what they need. Heres where linking location data to the query vastly enhances the value and efficiency of the information search.

Lets say youre looking for a fast food restaurant in San Diego. By adding location information into your inquiry, instead of getting the names of every restaurant in the city, youd be supplied only with those close to your location at the time you make the call. By adding other criteria such as restaurant type, distance, proximity to public transit, etc., you could further refine the set of choices you are offered. The network would be helping you make your decision, rather than bombarding you with too many choices.

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION
Of course, finding the nearest fast-food restaurant isnt the most compelling service imaginable, but when you start thinking creatively about the possibilities inherent in this technology, lots of valuable, marketable services come to mind. For example, imagine the value to trucking companies if their drivers were able to use their cell phones to locate upcoming gas stations, identify those offering the lowest fuel prices, download directions to the station, and even present a list of the services available at that particular truck stop. This service would be, in effect, a location-based yellow pages.

Now keep in mind that the above example is entirely responsive in nature. Suppose the network is a bit more proactive in offering a service. Say youre on a business trip; youve wrapped up your meetings and are headed back to the airport to catch your flight home. Unfortunately theres an accident on the highway leading to the airport and youre sitting in your rental car with less than 30 minutes to catch your flight. The network recognizes your location, correlates that with a database that tracks local road conditions, queries the airline departure database to see that your scheduled flight is departing on time, and therefore infers that you will miss your flight. The network then communicates with the airline reservations database, and finds that there is another flight departing 90 minutes later with available seats. A message is sent to your mobile device asking you if you wish to confirm the change. You respond yes and breathe a sigh of relief knowing you have a confirmed seat home.

These arent pie-in-the-sky services were talking about here. Carriers are already putting the infrastructure in place that will be needed to make these services a reality. And of course these technologies have much broader applicability than just improving the lives of business travelers and other high-end users. Location technology also has the potential to provide valuable public safety services, like E911 systems that can dispatch emergency response teams directly to the location of an automobile accident, or help rescuers locate victims during an earthquake or other calamity.

There are also less dramatic safety features that parents might find particularly attractive. For instance, there is already technology available that makes it possible to produce or print low-cost mobile antennas onto pieces of paper. These antennas can then serve as radio frequency (RF) tags that can be used to track people and objects inexpensively. Imagine your family decided to go on an outing to an amusement park. When entering the park each of your kids gets a disposable bracelet that is RF-enabled and can therefore be used to track their location throughout the park. Then, if your children wander off, their locations can be determined immediately, and if need be security personnel could be dispatched to retrieve them. And of course its not too difficult to imagine more disturbing scenarios where similar services could be profoundly helpful.

Theres no question that location-based services will offer substantial economic opportunities for service providers, as well as their partners. Even more importantly, location services can potentially save lives. What could be cooler than that?

Jeff Cortley is director of cool services marketing and strategy for Lucent Technologies, a leader in the communications networking market. Lucent enables a wide range of leading edge communications networks including Internet, e-business, wireless, optical, data, and voice from its broad networking portfolio. 

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