It appears that location-based service applications for finding local coffee shops, specialty stores, banks and the like have fallen short in intriguing consumers in the United States. But industry contends that a market-albeit one far more practical and far less sexy than previous expectations-for LBS still exists. And several LBS companies have narrowed their focuses to develop and deploy pragmatic applications targeted at specific end users.
Indeed, enterprise organizations are adopting and garnering revenue from LBS solutions now, said Chris Cherry, strategic industry manager for communications at MapInfo Corp. The trucking industry is one of the biggest adopters of LBS, according to Cherry. That industry includes truck fleets; specialty trucking, like waste management companies; the public sector, including snow plows and street sweepers; and service dispatch companies, like plumbers.
The industry uses LBS to manage its fleets and track assets, including employees. For example, LBS can assist companies in plotting routes to make jobs like snow plowing more effective. It can also increase the response time of service companies because on-call employees can be located quickly.
In the future, LBS could offer tracking of smaller assets and packages, though for now Cherry believes the real push is in locating and managing larger assets, like vehicles and fleets.
Most of the major carriers currently do offer some kind of consumer LBS application, “but none have seen success in the U.S. market,” said Cherry, citing a lack of compelling applications, privacy issues and cost issues that have kept U.S. consumers at a distance.
He suggests very specific, niche applications directed at specific communities with special interests may be the best way for LBS to target the consumer market. Wireless gaming applications using LBS, for example, could have potential success in certain market segments. “It took very specific applications in the enterprise,” Cherry qualified.
Location for security
AireSpace Inc. is focused on the enterprise wireless local area network space, using location solutions to enable connectivity and secure networks and assets inside enterprise buildings and on campuses. “Location is a huge, huge, application in the enterprise space,” said Jeff Aaron, senior manager of product marketing at AireSpace.
AireSpace uses a technique called RF fingerprinting to learn the radio-frequency characteristics of a building, explained Aaron. Then to determine a location, AireSpace compares information sent from access points to a grid or map that has been developed based on the RF fingerprint of the building.
The solution can be used to not only detect, but also to locate rogue access points on a network. In addition, AireSpace has also deployed active radio frequency identification tags that interactively communicate with access points to track individual assets like wheelchairs, projectors, theater props and even doctors within a network.
Active RFID tags differ from passive tags, known for their use in supply chain applications, in that they can be detected anywhere inside a WLAN-not just when a reader is in close enough proximity to detect them. Active RFID for tracking is an example of how an enterprise can better leverage its WLAN, according to Aaron, because the tags communicate with the existing access points.
Location for emergencies
Polaris Wireless considers itself a player in the U.S. wireless location market too, but it is tackling it from a different angle. Polaris is focused on enhanced 911 capabilities and believes “that is really the market [for location technologies] in the U.S.,” according to Manlio Allegra, the company’s chief executive officer.
Allegra explained Polaris’ Wireless Location Signatures system as a “new breed of wireless location technology,” because it does not require the changes to the phone or the network necessary with more traditional location technologies, global positioning system and time difference of arrival.
Rather, WLS is a software solution that uses information already collected by the phone to determine the location of a caller based on each location’s “unique signature,” which is determined by computer modeling. Going forward, the company envisions partnering with GPS vendors for a hybrid WLS-GPS solution that “could cover 100 percent of users and 100 percent of the network,” according to Allegra.
According to Polaris, the solution meets the Federal Communications Commission’s E911 Phase II mandate and supports commercial services. Triton PCS and Rural Cellular Corp. are using WLS to meet the E911 Phase II mandates, and according to Allegra, Triton will be the first wireless carrier with 100-percent Phase II coverage.
The consumer location business isn’t skyrocketing, according to Allegra, because all of the technologies currently used to deploy location services have major flaws. Those flaws include lack of accuracy, length of time to deploy and high costs. In order for carriers to attempt fixing such flaws, they have to be convinced there is a market for the services, said Allegra.
“Unfortunately this market was so over-hyped three years ago. There was a lot of smoke, and no fire,” said Allegra, adding that although applications were touted, the underlying enabling technologies were not up to par. “If you deliver accuracy, the market will be there.”
