Document Final

Location based services Wipro Technologies Author: Mita Sinha [email protected] Mobile: +61449188408

WHITE PAPER

Location Based Services

Table of Contents 1 Introduction....................................................................................................................................................3 2 What is Location? .........................................................................................................................................4 3 Positioning.....................................................................................................................................................4 3.1 Network-based Mobile Positioning Technology...................................................................................4 3.1.1 SS7 and Mobile Positioning............................................................................................................4 3.1.2 Network based PDE........................................................................................................................5 3.1.3 Angle of Arrival Method.................................................................................................................5 3.1.4 Time of Arrival Method...................................................................................................................5 3.1.5 Radio Propagation Techniques........................................................................................................5 3.1.6 Hybrid Methods..............................................................................................................................5 3.2 Handset-based Mobile Positioning Technology....................................................................................5 3.2.1 SIM Toolkit....................................................................................................................................5 3.2.2 Enhanced Observed Time Difference (E-OTD)..............................................................................6 3.2.3 GPS..................................................................................................................................................6 3.2.4 Mobile IN Technologies for Positioning.........................................................................................6 4 The Importance of LBS Middle-ware............................................................................................................6 5 Geographic Information Systems..................................................................................................................7 6 Location Management Function...................................................................................................................7 7 J2ME and Location-Based Services..............................................................................................................7 7.1 Determining the Device's Location........................................................................................................7 7.1.1 Using the mobile phone network.....................................................................................................8 7.1.2 Using satellites................................................................................................................................8 7.2 The Location API for J2ME...................................................................................................................8 7.2.1 Landmarks......................................................................................................................................9 7.2.2 Security and Privacy........................................................................................................................9 7.2.3 Guidelines......................................................................................................................................10 7.2.4 Summary........................................................................................................................................10 8 Application Scenarios..................................................................................................................................10 8.1 Business Initiatives...............................................................................................................................10 8.1.1 Enquiry and Information Services................................................................................................11 8.1.2 Community Services......................................................................................................................11 8.1.3 Traffic Telematics..........................................................................................................................11 8.1.4 Fleet Management and Logistics...................................................................................................12 8.1.5 Mobile Marketing..........................................................................................................................12 8.1.6 Mobile Gaming..............................................................................................................................13 8.1.7 Value-added Services....................................................................................................................13 8.1.8 Location based billing....................................................................................................................13 8.2 Public Initiatives...................................................................................................................................14 8.2.1 Emergency Services.......................................................................................................................14 9 The Future of Mobile Positioning................................................................................................................15 10 Advantages for the operators:....................................................................................................................15 11 Some of the third party products based on LBS:.......................................................................................15 11.1 Whereis Navigator..............................................................................................................................15 11.2 Wizi....................................................................................................................................................16 11.3 XORA GPS Time track for workers...................................................................................................16 11.4 WEBRASKA.....................................................................................................................................17 11.5 Spotigo's WiFi-based Positioning Technology...................................................................................18 12 Summary....................................................................................................................................................18 13 References..................................................................................................................................................19 14 About the Author.......................................................................................................................................20 15 About Wipro Technologies........................................................................................................................20

Wipro Technologies

Page 2 of 20

WHITE PAPER

Location Based Services

1 Introduction In this age of significant telecommunications competition, mobile network operators continuously seek new and innovative ways to create differentiation and increase profits. One of the best ways to accomplish this is through the delivery of highly personalized services. One of the most powerful ways to personalize mobile services is based on location. Basis of LBS - location technology. Location-based Services (LBS) are mobile services for providing information that has been created, compiled, selected or filtered under consideration of the users' current locations or those of other persons or mobile devices. A location-based service (LBS) is actually an information and entertainment service, accessible with mobile devices through the mobile network and utilizing the ability to make use of the geographical position of the mobile device. LBS services can be used in a variety of contexts, such as health, work, personal life, etc. 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. LBS can include mobile commerce when taking the form of coupons or advertising directed at customers based on their current location. They include personalized weather services and even location-based games. Typical examples are restaurant finders, buddy trackers, navigation services or applications in the areas of mobile marketing, emergency services, and car navigation system, tracking services, tourist tour planning or yellow maps (combination of yellow pages and maps) information delivery and mobile gaming. The attractiveness of LBS Technology is due to the fact that users are not required to enter location information manually but are automatically pinpointed and tracked. Definition of LBS by GSM Association: The GSM Association, which is a consortium of 600 GSM network operators, simply defines LBS as services that use the location of the target for adding value to the service, where the target is the “entity” to be located (and this entity is not necessarily the user of the service). Definition of LBS by 3GPP: Another similarly abstract definition of LBS is given by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), which is an international federation of many national standardization authorities aiming at providing the specification for GSM and UMTS: an LBS is a service provided by a service provider that utilizes the available location information of the terminal (3GPP TS 23.271). Following these definitions, most of today’s LBS are realized as data or messaging services, for example, based on the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), the General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), or the Short Message Service (SMS)

Wipro Technologies

Page 3 of 20

WHITE PAPER

Location Based Services

2 What is Location? When dealing with LBS it is first important to be clear about the meaning of the term “location”. Although most people would claim that they are very familiar with the concept of location, as it, besides time, is one of the major quantities determining our everyday life, it is useful to have a closer look at it and to distinguish between different categories of location information. The main focus is on one spatial location that appears to the developers and users of LBS in the form of coordinates

3 Positioning Positioning System Terminal Based

A-GPS

GPS

Network Based

E-TOD

CGI-TA

TOA

The terms mobile positioning and mobile location are sometimes used interchangeably in conversation, but they are really two different things. Mobile positioning refers to determining the position of the mobile device. Mobile location refers to the location estimate derived from the mobile positioning operation. There are various means of mobile positioning, which can be divided into two major categories network based and handset based positioning. The purpose of positioning the mobile is to provide location-based services (LBS), including wireless emergency services.

3.1

Network-based Mobile Positioning Technology

This category is referred to as "network based" because the mobile network, in conjunction with network-based position determination equipment (PDE) is used to position the mobile device.

3.1.1 SS7 and Mobile Positioning One of the easiest means of positioning the mobile user is to leverage the SS7 network to derive location. When a user invokes a service that requires the MSC to launch a message to a LBS residing on a SCP, the MSC may launch a SS7 message contain the cell of origin (COO) or cell ID (of the corresponding cell site currently serving the user). While potentially covering a large area, the COO may be used by LBS to approximate the location of the user. This type of positioning therefore has a large degree of uncertainty that should be taken into account by the LBS application in term of required quality of service (QOS).

Wipro Technologies

Page 4 of 20

WHITE PAPER 3.1.2

Location Based Services

Network based PDE

COO is not always available (for example: via SS7 with non-GSM WAP based services) nor does it always meet the QOS requirements of the LBS application. Therefore, network-based (or handset based) PDE must be employed.

3.1.3 Angle of Arrival Method This method involves analysis of the angle of arrival (AOA) of a signal between the mobile phone and the cellular antenna. AOA PDE is used to capture AOA information to make calculations to determine an estimate of the mobile device position.

3.1.4 Time of Arrival Method This method uses the time of arrival (TOA) of signals between the mobile phone and the cellular antenna. TOA PDE is used to capture time difference of arrival (TDOA) information to make calculations to determine an estimate of the mobile device position.

3.1.5 Radio Propagation Techniques These techniques utilize a previously determined mapping of the radio frequency (RF) characteristics to determine an estimate of the mobile device position.

3.1.6

Hybrid Methods

Some hybrid methods of AngleOfArrival and TimeOfArrival exist that use the best of both to provide improved positioning.

3.2

Handset-based Mobile Positioning Technology

This category is referred to as "handset based" because the handset itself is the primary means of positioning the user, although the network can be used to provide assistance in acquiring the mobile device and/or making position estimate determinations based on measurement data and handset based position determination algorithms.

3.2.1

SIM Toolkit

The SIM Toolkit (STK), as an API between the Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) of a GSM/UMTS mobile phone and an application, provides the means of positioning a mobile unit. Positioning information may be as approximate as COO or more precise through additional means such as use of the mobile network operation called timing advance (TA) or a procedure called network measurement report (NMR). In all cases, the STK allows for communication between the SIM (which may contain additional algorithms for positioning) and a location server application (which may contain additional algorithms to assist in mobile positioning). STK is a good technique to obtain position information while the mobile device is in the idle state.

Wipro Technologies

Page 5 of 20

WHITE PAPER

Location Based Services

3.2.2 Enhanced Observed Time Difference (E-OTD) This is what is also referred to as reversed TOA or handset based TOA. The basic method is employed as with TOA, only the handset is much more actively involved in the positioning process. Specially equipped handsets are required.

3.2.3 GPS Perhaps the best known or recognized handset based PDE is based on the Global Positioning System (GPS). By itself, GPS can be the most accurate (when satellites are acquired/available), but this technology is often enhanced by the network. Assisted GPS (A-GPS) refers to a PDE system that makes use of additional network equipment that is deployed to help acquire the mobile device (much faster than non-assisted GPS) and provide positioning when the A-GPS system is unsuccessful in acquiring any/enough satellites.

3.2.4 Mobile IN Technologies for Positioning Mobile IN can also be deployed to assist in the positioning process. GSM and ANSI-41 based networks may employ the use of the GSM MAP Any Time Interrogation (ATI) and Position Request (PosReq) messages respectively for positioning. These mobile IN procedures entail a LBS application middle-ware as a Service Control Function (SCF) launching a message (MAP ATI or PosReq) to the HLR for position information. The HLR may respond with approximate information (such as the COO) or more precise information (such as TA or NMR as in the case with GSM). The value of mobile IN is to leverage the SS7 and IN network to obtain location, especially for mid-call/session position updates. Mobile IN may also be quite valuable for idle call positioning, but requires integration on the mobile network side to ensure current position information is made available.

4 The Importance of LBS Middle-ware LBS middle-ware can be best defined as the application that do not provide the services themselves, but rather enable location based services. One of the best examples of LBS middle-ware, that is required for all robust LBS implementations, is the location manager function. Among other things, the location manager function may be employed to convert positioning information into useful location information and make it available for LBS applications. One of the key value aspects of the location manager function is to enable the use of various positioning technologies in conjunction with various LBS applications. This functional element thus acts as a gateway or hub for location. Another important role of the location manager function is to perform the SCF function for mobile IN positioning technologies.

Wipro Technologies

Page 6 of 20

WHITE PAPER

Location Based Services

New network entities called the Mobile Positioning Center (MPC) and the Gateway Mobile Location Center (GMLC) are being standardized to provide for the location management function for ANSI-41 and GSM networks respectively.

5 Geographic Information Systems Geographic data is an important aspect of any location system. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) provide the tools to provision and administer base map data such as man made structures (streets, buildings) and terrain (mountains, rivers). GIS is also used to manage point-of-interest data such as location of gas stations, restaurants, nightclubs, etc. Finally, GIS information also includes information about the radio frequency characteristics of the mobile network. This allows the system to determine the serving cell site of the user.

6

Location Management Function

It is not enough to be able to position the mobile user and know the map data around that position. There must be a location management function to process positioning and GIS data on behalf of LBS applications. The location management function acts as a gateway and mediator between positioning equipment and LBS infrastructure.

7 J2ME and Location-Based Services What Location-Based Services Do? Location-based services answer three questions: Where am I? What's around me? How do I get there? They determine the location of the user by using one of several technologies for determining position, and then use the location and other information to provide personalized applications and services. As an example, consider a wireless 911 emergency service that determines the caller's location automatically. Such a service would be extremely useful, especially to users who are far from home and don't know local landmarks. Traffic advisories, navigation help including maps and directions, and roadside assistance are natural location-based services. Other services can combine present location with information about personal preferences to help users find food, lodging, and entertainment to fit their tastes and pocketbooks. There are two basic approaches to implementing location-based services: • Process location data in a server and deliver results to the device. • Obtain location data for a device-based application that uses it directly. The following content focuses on device-based location services.

7.1

Determining the Device's Location

To discover the location of the device, LBS must use real-time positioning methods. Accuracy depends on the method used. Locations can be expressed in spatial terms or as text descriptions. A spatial location can be expressed in the widely used latitude-longitude-altitude coordinate system. Latitude is expressed

Wipro Technologies

Page 7 of 20

WHITE PAPER

Location Based Services

as 0-90 degrees north or south of the equator and longitude as 0-180 degrees east or west of the prime meridian, which passes through Greenwich, England. Altitude is expressed in meters above sea level. A text description is usually expressed as a street address, including city, postal code, and so on. Applications can call on any of several types of positioning methods.

7.1.1 Using the mobile phone network The current cell ID can be used to identify the Base Transceiver Station (BTS) that the device is communicating with and the location of that BTS. Clearly, the accuracy of this method depends on the size of the cell, and can be quite inaccurate. A GSM cell may be anywhere from 2 to 20 kilometers in diameter. Other techniques used along with cell ID can achieve accuracy within 150 meters.

7.1.2

Using satellites

The Global Positioning System (GPS), controlled by the US Department of Defense, uses a constellation of 24 satellites orbiting the earth. GPS determines the device's position by calculating differences in the times signals from different satellites take to reach the receiver. GPS signals are encoded, so the mobile device must be equipped with a GPS receiver. GPS is potentially the most accurate method (between 4 and 40 meters if the GPS receiver has a clear view of the sky), but it has some drawbacks: The extra hardware can be costly, consumes battery while in use, and requires some warm-up after a cold start to get an initial fix on visible satellites. It also suffers from "canyon effects" in cities, where satellite visibility is intermittent. Using short-range positioning beacons: In relatively small areas, such as a single building, a local area network can provide locations along with other services. For example, appropriately equipped devices can use Bluetooth for short-range positioning. In addition, location methods can connect to a mobile position center that provides an interface to query for the position of the mobile subscriber. The API to the mobile position center is XMLbased. While applications can be fully self-contained on the device, it's clear that a wider array of services is possible when a server-side application is part of the overall service. Some applications don't need high accuracy, but others will be useless if the location isn't accurate enough. Its okay for the location of a tourist walking around town to be off by 30 meters, but other applications and services may demand higher accuracy.

7.2

The Location API for J2ME

The Location API for J2ME specification defines an optional package, javax.microedition.location, that enables developers to write wireless location-based applications and services for resource-limited devices like mobile phones, and can be implemented with any common location method. The compact and generic J2ME location APIs provide mobile applications with information about the device's present physical location and orientation (compass direction), and support the creation and use of databases of known landmarks, stored in the device. JSR 179 requires the Connected Device Configuration (CDC) or version 1.1 of the Connected Limited Device Configuration (CLDC). CLDC 1.0 isn't adequate because it doesn't support floating-point numbers, which the API uses to represent coordinates and other measurements. The Location API doesn't depend on any particular profile -- it can be used with MIDP or the Personal Profile.

Wipro Technologies

Page 8 of 20

WHITE PAPER

Location Based Services

The hardware platform determines which location methods are supported. If it doesn't support at least one location provider, LBS won't be possible. Applications can request providers with particular characteristics, such as a minimum degree of accuracy. Some location methods may be free; others may entail service fees. The application should warn the user before any charges are incurred. It is up to the application to determine the criteria for selecting the location method. Criteria fields include: accuracy, response time, need for altitude, and speed. Once the application obtains a Location Provider instance that meets the criteria, it can use that object to obtain the location, in either of two ways: Invoke a method synchronously to get a single location. Register a listener and get periodic updates at application-defined intervals. The Location class abstracts the location results. Its object contains coordinates; speed if available, textual address if available and a time stamp that indicates when the location measurements were made. Coordinates are represented by either of two classes: A Coordinates object represents a point's latitude and longitude in degrees, and altitude in meters. A Qualified Coordinates object contains latitude, longitude, and altitude, and also an indication of their accuracy, represented as the radius of an area.

7.2.1

Landmarks

A landmark is a location associated with a name and a description. Landmarks can be stored in a device-based database, where they can be shared among all J2ME applications. Landmarks can store frequently used locations: home, office, favorite restaurants, and so on. Each is represented by a Landmark instance, and the database by a Landmark Store. User can create multiple named Landmark Stores to group locations into categories such as cinemas, museums, or customer sites. If the device includes a compass, the application may be able to determine not only its location but its orientation, which is useful in navigational applications. The Orientation class represents the device's azimuth as an angle from due north, which the application can easily convert to a compass direction.

7.2.2 Security and Privacy Many users consider location information to be highly sensitive, and are concerned about a number of privacy issues, including: Target marketing: Mobile users' locations can be used to classify customers for focused marketing efforts. Embarrassment: One customer's knowledge of another's location may lead to embarrassing situations. Harassment: Location information can be used to harass or attack a user. Service denial: A health insurance firm might deny a claim if it learned that a user visited a highrisk area. Legal restrictions: Some countries regulate the use of personal data. For these and other reasons, users must know when their location is given to an application.

Wipro Technologies

Page 9 of 20

WHITE PAPER

Location Based Services

7.2.3 Guidelines The following guidelines should be kept in mind when designing location-based services: Handle unavailability of services gracefully. The user's location may not always be available, for any of several reasons. The device is cut off from any of the location methods it supports, in a tunnel or on an airplane for example. The user withholds permission to release the information. No location provider that the device supports is available. Depending on the method used, determining the location may take a long time. The delay may be so long that the end result isn't useful in, for example, a navigation application. Keep the user informed. Location service fees, typical of network-assisted location methods, can add up quickly, so don't overuse fee-based services. Be sensitive to privacy concerns. Tell customers about the information being collected on them and how it will be used. Offer customers the choice of what location information to disclose, and when appropriate an option not to participate. Allow customers to review their permission profiles so that they know what they are permitting. Protect location information so that it cannot be accessed by unauthorized persons. The full advantage of the MIDP 2.0 security framework can be taken, which restricts the application's access to location data to cases in which the user explicitly confirms permission.

7.2.4 Summary Through the Location API for J2ME, the information about the user's position can be used to build new kinds of applications and services for mobile devices such as cell phones and PDAs, and to enhance existing services. JSR 179 specifies a generic API for obtaining locations, and thus makes porting LBS applications to a wide range of devices much easier. The critical issue that LBS developers must address is the privacy of the customer. To ensure privacy, follow sound programming guidelines and use the security framework in MIDP 2.0.

8 Application Scenarios The scenarios presented here are subdivided into economical initiatives, which are carried out by operators and providers to raise the attractiveness of their networks and data services and thus to increase the average revenue per user, and public initiatives, which are introduced by governments for supporting or fulfilling sovereign or administrative tasks.

8.1

Business Initiatives

The main motivation for offering LBS is to gain revenue by increasing the average airtime per user, selling location information to third parties, and offering services tailored to the special needs of mobile users. A provider may either realize and offer LBS on its own initiative or it may enter into business relationships with other actors, for example, from trade and commerce or the automobile industry, and realize and offer services on behalf of them. These relationships are defined by more or less complex business models, which are the subject of intensive research in the areas of business sciences. Some of the classical examples of LBS, which result from such business initiatives, are listed below:

Wipro Technologies

Page 10 of 20

WHITE PAPER 8.1.1

Location Based Services

Enquiry and Information Services

The simplest and so far the most widespread type of LBS are enquiry and information services, which provide the mobile user with nearby points of interest such as restaurants, automated teller machines or filling stations. Upon request, the user is either automatically located by the mobile network or, if appropriate positioning technology is missing, he must explicitly enter his current location. Furthermore, he must specify the points of interest, for example, whether he would like to receive a list of all nearby restaurants or filling stations, and the desired maximum distance between his current position and the points of interest. The request is then passed to a service provider, which assembles a list of appropriate points of interest and returns it to the user. Thus, this type of service is basically an extension of the Yellow Pages for showing only entries of local relevance. In today’s networks, these services are usually accessed over SMS, WAP, or I-mode. In some cases, they are combined with navigation facilities for guiding the user to the points of interest of his choice along the shortest route.

8.1.2 Community Services Community services enable users that share common interests to join together in a closed user group (community) and to interact among each other via chat, whiteboards, or messaging services. In the recent years, the WWW has created various occurrences of these services supporting a broad and heterogeneous range of communities in such areas as cooking, traveling, family, computer, and eroticism. What is common to most of them? is that users have to fix their nicknames, age, gender, domiciles, and other personal data in profiles that are matched against each other in order to support the mutual detection of users with similar interests. A very popular category is the so-called Instant Messaging, where users can assemble a buddy list of their favorite acquaintances. If a user is registered with the service, he can observe which of his buddies is also on line and can immediately enter into contact with him. This feature is commonly referred to as the presence feature. Like for many mobile services, a breakthrough in mobile community services has not yet taken place, the reason for which is certainly the lack of convenient user interfaces for mobile devices. However, their extension with location-based features represents an obvious way to make them popular in mobile networks too. Typical functions are to show a user the current location of his buddies or to alert him if one of his buddies stays close by. Location-based community services are much more sophisticated and more difficult to realize than, for example, the enquiry and information services presented earlier. They require a permanent tracking of their members and sophisticated mechanisms for saving their privacy.

8.1.3 Traffic Telematics The area of traffic telematics aims to support car drivers with a set of manifold services relating to their vehicles. It includes but is not limited to navigation, the automatic configuration of appliances and added features within the vehicle, diagnostics of malfunctions, or the dissemination of warning messages. The most widespread application so far has been navigation, which is enabled by On-Board Units (OBU) installed in the cars. On the basis of the current location, which is derived via GPS (Global Positioning System), the OBU guides the driver to the desired target by giving either vocal instructions or displaying the route graphically. The guidance is based on map material that is loaded from a local CD/DVD-ROM inside the OBU. More sophisticated versions of these systems are equipped with GSM/GPRS units and can thus keep the driver up-to-date with information from a remote server, including information on, for example, the latest traffic jams, weather conditions,

Wipro Technologies

Page 11 of 20

WHITE PAPER

Location Based Services

and road works. On the basis of this information, it becomes possible to recommend alternative routes. A hot topic in research is the wireless intervehicle communication, which relies on short-range communication technologies like WLAN or Bluetooth and which enables the exchange of warning messages, local traffic situations, or the position of filling stations in an adhoc manner. The content of the messages originates from different sources, above all from sensor technology inside the vehicles. Data delivered by these sensors is subsumed under the term floating car data and comprises such parameters as the vehicle’s speed, direction, and position. To derive high-level information, for example, like the aforementioned traffic situation, the floating car data must be refined in several steps and maybe even combined with the data received from other vehicles, before disseminating it to nearby vehicles. Intervehicle communication is a complex matter, which poses a number of strong requirements on the systems’ reliability, security mechanisms, routing protocols, and positioning technologies. It is usually not considered to be classical LBS, but adopts a number of similar technologies and mechanisms.

8.1.4 Fleet Management and Logistics While traffic telematics is concerned with supporting single, autonomous vehicles, fleet management deals with the control and coordination of entire fleets of vehicles by a central office. Typical target groups are freight services, public transportation, and emergency services. Location-based systems for fleet management are able to request the position of vehicles, display it on a map, determine the distance between different vehicles of a fleet as well as between a vehicle and its destination, and so on. On the basis of this information, the central office can dynamically delegate new orders and predict the arrival time of deliveries at the destination. LBS can also serve to support each form of logistics. The distribution of goods is no longer about moving cargo from A to B, but a complex process including sorting, planning, and consolidation of goods along a supply chain, which is usually composed of a sequence of different means of transportation. With the technologies of LBS, it becomes possible to support faster transportation, different transportation modes, and the development of fallback scenarios in case of failures.

8.1.5 Mobile Marketing Mobile marketing is a new kind of sales approach that helps manufacturers and service agencies to promote their products and services by interacting with consumers through their mobile devices. The contact with a consumer is usually established by using technologies such as SMS, Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), or WAP, where the first one is the most popular “media channel” till date. Unlike conventional campaigns in television, newspapers, and journals, mobile marketing enables to select the target group of certain product or service very accurately by evaluating the user profiles that reflect a customer’s interests in products and services and possibly even his buying patterns in the past. In addition, it enables a high degree of interactivity between consumers and the agencies carrying out a campaign. The consequent step forward is to make mobile marketing location-based in that the consumer is provided with information about products and services of local relevance. For example, a consumer might be informed about the special offers of a shop by sending a message to his mobile device just at the moment he is passing the shop. This message might contain information about products or services available on the spot as well as additional benefits like coupons or allowances. However, it must be stressed that mobile marketing in

Wipro Technologies

Page 12 of 20

WHITE PAPER

Location Based Services

general and the location-based version in particular will only gain acceptance if consumers do not feel harassed by incoming advertisement messages, which turns out to be a very serious problem with the E-mail service in the Internet. Advertisement messages should be delivered to a consumer only if they are in accordance with his interest profile, and it must be possible to conveniently cancel a subscription either permanently or temporarily. For advertisement messages that are delivered depending on the user’s location, it must also be guaranteed that they do not distract the user while carrying out activities that need concentration such as car driving, for which appropriate mechanisms, either in the network or in the mobile devices, are yet to be developed.

8.1.6 Mobile Gaming In recent years, mobile devices have developed from rudimentary mobile phones to sophisticated mobile computers with high-resolution multicolor displays, high-speed processors, and several MBs or GBs of storage. Hence, devices with these capabilities can not only be used for making phone calls, but they are also very attractive to be used as mobile consoles for playing games, which are either preinstalled or which can be dynamically loaded Over the Air from a service provider against a fee. A very popular application is the interactive games that allow remote users to share the same session and to enter into a real-time competition, for example, in a football game or a race. The games are accessed via the mobile device and the data needed to organize and maintain a distributed game session are communicated over a cellular network. Another occurrence is the location-based mobile games, where the virtual and real worlds merge and the current locations of users become an essential aspect of the play. An example is Can you see me now?, where on-line players have to catch professional players who run through real city streets, and the on-line players are equipped with a mobile device for tracking the runner and communicating with the game server. In Japan, another popular game is Mogi, where players have to cruise the streets of a city to collect virtually hidden treasures. The mobile device indicates the hiding places of treasures on a map, and the players have to move to this place in the real world as fast as possible before the treasure is collected by another player.

8.1.7 Value-added Services Value-added or supplementary services are terms originating from the traditional telecommunications domain and refer to enhancements of basic services, especially speech telephony More prominent examples are call forwarding, freephone, split charging, and televoting. Actually, positioning capabilities of a network can also be seen as a value-added service as they are, in many cases, offered as enhancements to other services. However, they can also serve to enable a more intelligent and flexible use of conventional supplementary services.

8.1.8 Location based billing The ability to have preferential billing is provided by this type of application. Through location based billing, the user can establish personal zones such as a home zone or work zone. Through arrangements with the serving wireless carrier, the user could perhaps enjoy flat-rate calling while in the home area and special rates while in other defined zones. This type of application can be especially useful when use in conjunction with other mobile applications such as prepaid wireless.

Wipro Technologies

Page 13 of 20

WHITE PAPER

Location Based Services

For example, location-based call forwarding (or selective routing) means that incoming calls addressed to a user’s mobile device are automatically rerouted to a nearby fixed terminal. Some operators have also implemented location-dependent charging and allow their customers to determine a so-called homezone, that is, a certain geographic area of some size from where they can make calls at special tariffs or even free of charge. Location-based supplementary services like these are predominantly based on proprietary solutions developed by the operators for marketing purposes.

8.2

Public Initiatives

In many countries of the world, governments and authorities have recognized the potentials of some of the strongest communication systems such as the Internet and use them for supporting and fulfilling sovereign and administrative tasks. Obviously, the new technical possibilities for tracking and locating people by mobile communication systems have inspired many governments to think of new services for various national purposes, ranging from fighting against crime and emergency services to collecting tolls. While some of these initiatives go along with legal mandates that require network operators to implement the required functions, others may be realized through the so-called public-private partnerships, that is, contracts between the government and operators, which have been negotiated according to the rules of free market economy. Although these initiatives do not fall into the category of conventional LBS (and, in most cases, are hardly experienced by the citizens as such), the underlying mechanisms are nevertheless the same as those used for LBS. Therefore, public initiatives in the aforementioned areas turned out to be very important driving forces for a broad commercial introduction of LBS. In the following section, the most important examples of national activities in this field are reflected:

8.2.1 Emergency Services Emergency services represent a very obvious and reasonable application area where the deployment of location technology makes sense. In many cases, persons calling a so-called emergency response agency (e.g., police, fire, ambulance) are unable to communicate their current location or they simply do not know it. While in many cases the address of a caller can be easily determined when the emergency call is made over the fixed telephone network, rescue workers are faced with serious problems when locating callers from mobile networks. This is worse as these days mobile phones are used more than the fixed lines, hence more than 50% of all emergency calls are increasingly made from mobile phones. Wireless Emergency Services (WES) refers to the use of mobile positioning technology to pinpoint mobile users for purposes of providing enhanced wireless emergency dispatch services (including fire, ambulance, and police) to mobile phone users. While WES is a type of location-based service (LBS), it is a mandate in the United States where 911 is the official dialing pattern for fixed and mobile network access to emergency services.

To cope with this problem, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the United States passed a mandate in 1996 that obligated mobile operators to locate the callers of emergency services and to deliver their geographic position to the so-called Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP), the office where emergency calls arrive. According

Wipro Technologies

Page 14 of 20

WHITE PAPER

Location Based Services

to the emergency number 911 in the United States, this mandate is known as Enhanced 911 (E-911). The mandate also defines an accuracy standard that goes far beyond what is possible with the standard mechanisms of location management in cellular networks and therefore requires enhancement of existing network infrastructures

9 The Future of Mobile Positioning There is a bright future for mobile positioning as the key technology for enabling LBS applications, which themselves will become increasingly important as a key enabler of value added services. Mobile positioning technologies are also crucial for wireless emergency services.

10 Advantages for the operators: • • •

Operators can offer their subscribers new and attractive services. Increase in revenue since subscribers are willing to pay for these services. Operators can save by optimizing their network.

11 Some of the third party products based on LBS: 11.1 Whereis Navigator Whereis® Navigator provides real time navigation throughout Australia. Whereis® Navigator provides low-cost wireless GPS navigation on compatible mobile handsets. The user receives real-time, turn-by turn vehicle navigation and access to regularly updated maps and points of interest. So long as the user has mobile coverage, they’ll always know where they are and which way they're going

Sensis has developed an interactive mapping application containing a database of digitized geographic data. This application can be used to generate maps to appear in WWW Pages which identify, by means of an icon, the location of specified addresses and are accessible on the WWW via the Whereis™ Location server. Whereis® Navigator is like having a portable GPS (Global Positioning System) satellite navigation system on user’s(compatible) mobile or smartphone. It uses GPS satellites to work out his location and gives a visual and spoken turn-by-turn directions to the destination. How it works: Whereis® Mobile uses mobile phone towers and Whereis® map technology to locate the user and provide maps and directions to addresses and points of interest. Whereis® Navigator uses satellites within the GPS to continuously determine user’s location and deliver turn-by-turn visual and spoken directions just as the user needs them. Whereis® Navigator has many of the features such as: •

directions

•

mapping

Wipro Technologies

Page 15 of 20

WHITE PAPER •

Location Based Services

points of interest

What makes it unique is how well it works with the technology in new mobile devices to direct the user, step-by-step, all the way to the desired destination. Key features • Voice, icon and map-based navigation • Location of most fixed speed and red light cameras • Regular map and points-of-interest updates • Access to addresses in mobile contact list • Automatic re-routing when the user stray off route • Intelligent address searching • Pedestrian navigation • Intelligent address matching (Navigator can lookup any address in user’s phone’s contacts list as well.) • Estimated time-to-destination or estimated arrival time display • Faster time or shorter distance navigation modes • No need for complicated map loading or memory card • Navigate routes with or without tolls • Up-to-date Whereis® map data every time user request a route

11.2 Wizi WIZI is an application which uses LBS developed by a Portugal company, during early 2008. Wizi is a free mobile navigation application that allows users to instantly share their location with whom they want, whenever they want to. This can happen between Wizi users or with an email or sms. Privacy is a key feature and visibility is totally controlled by the user: he can, at any time, become invisible to his friends or disable the link to a map of his location. Wizi SMS with Location also allows users to attach an image map to the message as MMS so anyone can see the map even if there is no internet connection, currently applicable for Android devices only Wizi is a location sharing and free traffic network that will allows users to keep track of their friends; family and co-workers in a secure and controlled way using their GPS enabled cell phones Wizi also recommends the best routes when driving in the city using traffic data collected in real time by its community, helping to save time and the environment.

11.3 XORA GPS Time track for workers XORA Time track is a wireless business tool that enables enterprises to manage remote workers productivity. With XORA Timetrack, businesses can gather information from the field in near real time, speeding the flow of vital information, Plus they can track the worker’s location so they can dispatch jobs more efficiently Xora™ TimeTrack automates job dispatch and tracking; helps reduce paperwork and eliminate manual data entry, while improving job costing processes. In addition, user gain real-time visibility of user’s field force using the location based services and select GPS-enabled handsets. Back at the office, this information can be viewed through maps and reports via a web interface, giving the user powerful insight into field activity. How it works

Wipro Technologies

Page 16 of 20

WHITE PAPER

Location Based Services

With the push of a button, mobile workers indicate when they are starting or ending shifts or jobs. Supervisors receive powerful web-based maps and reports showing where mobile workers are and what they are doing. Payroll or job-cost data can then be electronically transferred into QuickBooks, ADP and other applications. Alerts supervisor when an employee is headed for overtime. Key Benefits

More Productivity — Companies that have implemented Xora GPS TimeTrack complete, on average, one additional job per day per technician! Furthermore, users can see where their workers are at any time, making it easier to make informed decisions - such as which worker should be sent to a new job.

No More Paperwork — User can spend more time on tasks and no need to spend time manually entering data or tracking down timesheets. Improved Cash Flow — Xora provides job data in real-time, allowing companies to trigger the billing process as soon as a job is completed. Higher Customer Satisfaction — With Xora, companies can relay real-time information in response to customer inquiries, improving customer satisfaction and retention Informative: Companies can utilize XoraTime Track to gather information from the field in near realtime, speeding the flow of critical information. Business solutions offered: • Xora Time Track Lite: Location • Xora Time Track: Location+ time+ Job • Xora Time Track Biz Plus: Location+ Time+ Job + More Feature summary:

Core Feature

Time Track Lite

Time Track

Time Track Biz Plus

Location Tracking

Yes

Yes

Yes

Time Sheet Tracking

Yes

Yes

Job Tracking

Yes

Yes

Job Data (Flex Fields)

Yes

Job dispatching

Yes

Data Integration

Yes

11.4 WEBRASKA Webraska Inuk is a powerful and flexible platform enabling service operators, content providers, business users and end-users to dynamically integrate, location-enable, manage, update, and distribute large data bases of content-rich data. Webraska Inuk is ideally suited for:

Wipro Technologies

Page 17 of 20

WHITE PAPER • •

• •

Location Based Services

Telecom operators, Directory Assistance, Internet portals and other service providers owning large content data bases that require daily dynamic update and automatic maintenance. Content providers such as tourist or city guides providers or event organizers who wish to share their content with all users of Webraska Navigation, Orange Navigation, Orange SatNav, Vodafone Navigator, WhereIs Navigator, or other Internet or mobile applications. Business users who need to update and share locations and addresses at any time with all their mobile employees, exclusively. Consumer service operators such as Mobile Operators wishing to offer rich content, location-enabled advertisement and Web 2.0 services around GPS navigation and other location-based services.

11.5 Spotigo's WiFi-based Positioning Technology German software and service provider Spotigo developed a real-time location tracking application that can be installed on any WiFi-enabled device. Spotigo's WiFi-based positioning technology identifies the user's position on the basis of the received WiFi signal patterns. It is the perfect complement to GPS since it compensates the limitations of satellite-based positioning: especially in urban areas with high buildings and narrow streets, WiPS usually generates a faster fix, more reliable and more accurate results than GPS. Another important advantage of this new technology is the indoor and 3D functionality. Since it also works perfectly as a standalone positioning solution, Spotigo's WiPS now makes it possible to offer location-aware content on all mobile devices without GPS module. As a B2B company, Spotigo offers WiPS to companies, municipalities and organizations interested in offering high quality location-based services or location-based advertising. Spotigo’s core product is the WiFi-based Positioning Solution (“WiPS”), which works independently from any GPS-hardware or GSM-operators. Another core product is a WiFi SmartClient, a software solution that enables internet users to find and log on to WiFi hotspots automatically. .

12 Summary Location is a strategic asset of wireless carriers. Leveraging this information enables the user to experience value-added services and the mobile network operator to offer differentiation and incremental profitability.

Wipro Technologies

Page 18 of 20

WHITE PAPER

Location Based Services

13 References http://www.wikipedia.org/ http://www.telstra.com.au http://www.sensis.com.au http://www.wiki.org http://www.xora.com http://www.webraska.com http://www.spotigo.com

Wipro Technologies

Page 19 of 20

WHITE PAPER

Location Based Services

14 About the Author Mita Sinha is a Project engineer at Wipro Technologies, having an experience of 2 years in Mobile handset testing. She is currently an Integration Specialist which is a part of testing team involved in delivery of Mobile Handset Testing solutions for the largest services provider in Australia. She can be reached at [email protected] .

15 About Wipro Technologies Wipro is the first PCMM Level 5 and SEI CMMi Level 5 certified IT Services Company globally. Wipro provides comprehensive IT solutions and services (including systems integration, IS outsourcing, package implementation, software application development and maintenance) and Research & Development services (hardware and software design, development and implementation) to corporations globally. Wipro's unique value proposition is further delivered through our pioneering Offshore Outsourcing Model and stringent Quality Processes of SEI and Six Sigma.

© Copyright 2002. Wipro Technologies. All rights reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission from Wipro Technologies. Specifications subject to change without notice. All other trademarks mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners. Specifications subject to change without notice.

Wipro Technologies

Page 20 of 20