I came to the wireless communications industry several years ago from the world of geographic information systems-an industry I thoroughly enjoyed because of its vast applications but which I always had to explain.
“A GIS is a spatial database and analysis system.”
“A what?”
“It’s computerized maps.”
“What do you do with them?”
The list of applications for GIS technologies is long and deep … enough to build a healthy industry, but not an industry that it seemed would ever truly explode.
What do you do with this stuff …. really?
Map sales territories, perform demographic analysis, analyze soil quality for crops, chart cable for utilities … there is an application for any and every business concerned with spatial data, but it is fairly techie-techie and each application remains just a component of a larger IT picture. I always wondered what would bring location technology mainstream.
In the early 90s, we began to see applications for real-time navigation and location. The global positioning satellite system was operational and businesses based on GPS were popping up all over the place.
I first rode in a car with navigation capabilities at a conference in 1993. It was like seeing the early PDAs. The idea was good, but there were holes in the technology and in the data so it didn’t quite work.
At the turn of the century, it seems location technologies have both come of age and found a successful niche in the wireless communications industry.
Qualcomm buying SnapTrack for $1 billion last week and Signalsoft’s $33 investment this week from several technology heavy-hitters more than validate the place for location technology in the wireless world.
Many people in wireless are consumed today with the wireless data future, the Internet and content applications. The location part of that equation could be the next big thing.
As RCR reported last week, regulations for 911 technologies will drive location-based services. Once the technologies are in place to meet safety needs, the revenue opportunities for business will be endless.
Wireless Internet allows business to get at customers anytime, anywhere. Geographic technologies will allow business to follow their customers down the street.
Location technology will still be just a piece of the wireless pie, but it’s a very large and very mainstream piece.
