Articles tagged with: KRZYSZTOF KOLODZIEJ

Oct 2006 | Comments Off on Global Positioning Systems versus Local Positioning Systems

In the last several years we have seen an explosion of consumer GPS products. Telematics systems, LBS applications on cell phones, GPS-enabled PDAs, and more novel GPS products such as pet finders have flooded the marketplace, with new products and applications announced almost daily. Likewise, public awareness of the potential utility of GPS has increased. Microsoft’s and Google’s entrance into the GPS and mapping market have helped accelerate consumer understanding and adoption of location technology. This is also causing a major demand among users of LBS technology to “show what is around me.” In a word, GPS is a general term in the marketplace to which consumers are accustomed in how they understand and explain all location-enabled products and applications. What’s interesting is that GPS is not even the positioning-enabling (or location-enabling) technology inside many of these new locationaware applications that are getting a lot of traction these days. Moreover, Google and the other online mapping consumer websites are a disruptive technology for GPS because they don’t require the use of GPS – users can either self provision by entering a street intersection or applications like Google Local and Microsoft Local Live use WiFi for location sensing to the nearest access point.