Professional Documents
Culture Documents
1 Introduction....................................................................................................................................................3
2 What is Location? .........................................................................................................................................4
3 Positioning.....................................................................................................................................................4
3.1 Network-based Mobile Positioning Technology...................................................................................5
3.1.1 SS7 and Mobile Positioning............................................................................................................5
3.1.2 Network based PDE........................................................................................................................5
3.1.3 Angle of Arrival Method.................................................................................................................5
3.1.4 Time of Arrival Method...................................................................................................................6
3.1.5 Radio Propagation Techniques........................................................................................................6
3.1.6 Hybrid Methods..............................................................................................................................6
3.2 Handset-based Mobile Positioning Technology....................................................................................6
3.2.1 SIM Toolkit....................................................................................................................................6
3.2.2 Enhanced Observed Time Difference (E-OTD)..............................................................................6
3.2.3 GPS..................................................................................................................................................6
3.2.4 Mobile IN Technologies for Positioning.........................................................................................7
4 The Importance of LBS Middle-ware............................................................................................................7
5 Geographic Information Systems..................................................................................................................7
6 Location Management Function...................................................................................................................8
7 J2ME and Location-Based Services..............................................................................................................8
7.1 Determining the Device's Location........................................................................................................8
7.1.1 Using the mobile phone network.....................................................................................................8
7.1.2 Using satellites................................................................................................................................9
7.2 The Location API for J2ME...................................................................................................................9
7.2.1 Landmarks....................................................................................................................................10
7.2.2 Security and Privacy......................................................................................................................10
7.2.3 Guidelines......................................................................................................................................10
7.2.4 Summary........................................................................................................................................11
8 Application Scenarios..................................................................................................................................11
8.1 Business Initiatives...............................................................................................................................11
8.1.1 Enquiry and Information Services................................................................................................11
8.1.2 Community Services......................................................................................................................12
8.1.3 Traffic Telematics..........................................................................................................................12
8.1.4 Fleet Management and Logistics...................................................................................................13
8.1.5 Mobile Marketing..........................................................................................................................13
8.1.6 Mobile Gaming..............................................................................................................................14
8.1.7 Value-added Services....................................................................................................................14
8.1.8 Location based billing....................................................................................................................14
8.2 Public Initiatives...................................................................................................................................14
8.2.1 Emergency Services.......................................................................................................................15
9 The Future of Mobile Positioning................................................................................................................15
10 Advantages for the operators:....................................................................................................................16
11 Some of the third party products based on LBS:.......................................................................................16
11.1 Whereis Navigator..............................................................................................................................16
11.2 Wizi....................................................................................................................................................17
11.3 XORA GPS Time track for workers...................................................................................................17
11.4 WEBRASKA.....................................................................................................................................18
11.5 Spotigo's WiFi-based Positioning Technology...................................................................................19
12 Summary....................................................................................................................................................19
13 References..................................................................................................................................................20
14 About Wipro Technologies........................................................................................................................21
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.
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)
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
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.
Positioning System
Terminal Based
Network Based
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
These techniques utilize a previously determined mapping of the radio frequency (RF)
characteristics to determine an estimate of the mobile device position.
Some hybrid methods of AngleOfArrival and TimeOfArrival exist that use the best of both to
provide improved positioning.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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:
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.
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.
7.2.3 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.
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.
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.
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.
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:
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
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
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.
• directions
• mapping
• 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.
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
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 real-
time, speeding the flow of critical information.
Feature summary:
Core Feature Time Track Lite Time Track Time Track Biz Plus
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:
• 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.
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.
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
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