BSNL Pilots Location Based Services In East Zone
BSNL has piloted a web based “Locator Service” in its East Zone network. The locator uses mobile towers to track the location of the person, on the basis of the strength of the signal. The service is expected to be launched in six months, in association with US based Telenity. VAS provider mBlazon is also piloting a similar service with “a CDMA operator”. Five players involved in the service – operator, VAS app developer, MAP service, routing company and the locator company. More at ET and EFY Times.
While such a service has several applications – location based advertising, chatting, dating, gaming, employee tracking etc, people have been highly skeptical of its accuracy – each handset receives signals from several towers, and location is determined based on the strength of the signal. At night, sometimes I get a signal from a tower that’s probably 5-6km away from my house. Of course, what worries me more is the issue of privacy.
We are interested in this technology tool as a spatial solution provider. Where I live, the GSM network tells me that my living room and kitchen are in different suburbs. I can assure you that my house isn't that big.
This is of course just the beginning and with projects such as Emergency Reponse in the USA, this technology will become dramatically better in the future and in the long term I would expect most mobile phones to have GPS chips.
It is very interesting that BSNL is implimenting this services in India. However mobile signal based location service will have bit less accuracy which will affect the quality of the service. While this is true, it has true potential in low accuracy based services like asset management. Even with GPS chips, you can not get very high accurate location if you are on the road surrounded by the buildings or if you inside the building as GPS requires a clear sky. only mobile signal coupled with previous track record can best approximate the location of the perticulary person using the mobile.
However, the privacy and data protection issues are very important and may affect negatively on the location based services. specifically in the country like india where data protection law is not fully implimented.
I think all LBS have to be pull based and no Push based services should be allowed. Emergency services can probably be the only exception (dont go there or get out now we have a gas leak).
Once it is pull based LBS, the whole issue of privacy goes away and i will get what i want when i want. So my phone sends my cell address to a server and based on my selection of information wanted, pulls me location based information and shows it on my phone. When I am in my kitchen – it gets me shopping discounts for groceries and when I am in my living room it gets me where I can get the cheapest booze :)
My phone number is never shown nor recorded nor shared with anyone. Just one mass "clickstream"
hai dear friends,
Is this service is available in India now..? who are all others providing this service in India…? Is there any SDK is available for developing such a service by own.??