Location Based Services

A Location-Based Service (LBS) is an information service provided by operators that is accessible by mobile devices. LBS services utilize the geographic position of the mobile device to provide location information to the consumer. Uses of LBS include mapping and navigation applications and social networking services based on location and presence technologies either embedded in the handset or placed in the network.

 

LBS services can be used in a variety of contexts, such as health care, professional and personal life, etc. LBS services include services to identify a location of a person or object, such as finding the nearest ATM machine, business or the location of a friend or employee. The applications that LBS services enable continue to grow. For example, LBS services include parcel tracking and vehicle tracking services. LBS services 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, traffic alerts and even location-based games.

 

Juniper Research reported in April 2008 that it expects nearly 1.3 billion users – 30 percent of the mobile subscriber base – will use local mobile search services by 2013. Juniper notes that advertising supported local search will be the key to driving this sector, with the caveat that the effectiveness of advertising in this sector will vary widely according to local conditions. The best equipped regions are considered to be Western Europe and North America, as countries within these regions typically have good local digital information suppliers such as Yellow and White Pages, as well as good mapping data. Total mobile search revenues are expected to reach $4.8 billion by 2013, according to the April 2008 Juniper report.

 

ABI Research similarly expects that mobile search ads will create their own sector of business in the advertising space. ABI noted in an April 2008 report that the market for mobile search ads is expected to jump from $813 million in 2008 to $5 billion in 2013.

 

Mobile location-based social networking is predicted to become a key driver for the uptake of location-based services as it provides a unifying framework for a large set of applications such as friend finders, local search and geo-tagging.  According to ABI Research, the emergence of location-based social mobile networking services offered by providers such as GyPSii, Pelago and Loopt is revolutionizing social networking by allowing users to share real-life experiences through geo-tagged user-generated multimedia content, exchange recommendations about places, identify nearby friends and set up last-minute face to face meetings. Location-based mobile social networking revenues are predicted to generate $3.3 billion by 2013 according to an August 2008 report from ABI Research.

 

While many LBS applications will include features that allow users to share experiences in real-time via fixed social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace, fully-equipped mobile location-based social networking sites will also gain momentum with ABI Research predicting in a November 2008 report that more than 82 million subscriptions are expected by 2013. ABI Research director Dominique Bonte commented that, “while growth will be mainly driven by the availability of multimedia-centric GPS handsets, other mobile form factors will also become important.”  One key factor that will be critical for location-enabled social sites to achieve significant market share is licensing agreements with carriers and handsets manufacturers. While initially a wide range of business models will coexist, ultimately advertising-based models are expected prevail due to the perfect fit with the local search- and content-driven social context.

 

In addition to these consumer benefits, LBS services provide benefits to the enterprise user such as resource tracking and fleet management, search functions, and targeted promotions.

 

In the past, LBS services have been closely associated with E911 emergency services and public safety, and this will continue to be refined in the near future. However, the promise of commercial LBS services has been prevalent for several years, and we are starting to see navigational services available in the Americas market. Location information may be to the cell site level, or eventually, within a few meters. This type of location awareness and high accuracy technology can add tremendous value to any application that provides relevant, contextually accurate location-based content.

 

The first LBS services globally were first launched commercially in Japan by NTT DoCoMo based on triangulation for pre-GPS handsets in July 2001, and by KDDI for the first mobile phones equipped with GPS in December 2001. Mobile handset makers have taken an upstream initiative to embed LBS in their mobile equipment. Originally, LBS services were 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 success, utilizing access to mobile web.