There’s been a lot of talk over the past couple years about telephone companies opening up their networks to the developer community so software types can leverage network resources like location in their applications. But making that a reality can be more difficult than it sounds. To help facilitate that movement, LOC-AID Technologies (News - Alert) Inc. aggregates location data from multiple carriers and delivers APIs to enable developers to access that information.

“Network location is available now, and it’s easy to use our API to get it,” says Carolyn Hodge, chief marketing officer at LOC-AID.

The company, which has been around since 2007 but pivoted to this new focus in 2009, buys location data from the service providers and charges developers for that information based on the number of locations delivered. LOC-AID has connections into all the service providers’ APIs, and it manages permissions related to that information.

More than 100 customers leverage LOC-AID services today. Use cases of the LOC-AID offerings include credit card fraud prevention, family safety, M2M and shipment tracking, mobile gaming, mobile marketing, and mobile workforce applications. Seven of the top 10 banks and two of the top four credit card issuers are now piloting the LOC-AID solution, says Hodge. The company also is used by Placecast, which uses LOC-AID location services as part of its SMS campaign. The LOC-AID solution also comes into play in mobile gaming applications in the state of Nevada.  American Wagering uses LOC-AID to ensure end users are within the state, says Hodge, adding that unlike GPS the LOC-AID technology cannot be spoofed. On the mobile workforce front, meanwhile, one employer has a LOC-AID-powered solution that effectively uses location as a time sheet for its traveling nurses. Another mobile workforce application of the solution involves a truck delivery business that uses LOC-AID’s technology to keep tabs on the location of shipments and trucks by using drivers’ cellular devices as a proxy.