 On Tuesday March 15 at the CTIA Wireless industry trade show the winners of this
years' Global LBS Challenge were announced. Out of a field of some 180 companies
6 inovative applications were singled out for excellence and recognized as winning
apps, meeting the criteria of superior usability and utility. We were pleased
to have been in attendance once again this year as Location-Based solutions take
center stage.
With the wireless industry rebounding big time, CTIA wireless 2005 was a fantastic
event. This year there was the usual parade of devices, peripherals and as usual
a plethora of carriers were in attendance. Unlike previous years though, much
attention was on wireless data, applications, and services. In particular, the
2 "E's"... Entertainment and Enterprise were in my mind, at center stage. These
are indeed the two sectors that are/will be driving the bus and generating customers
and revenues for the wireless industry. You no doubt have seen news here recently
from the likes of Route 66 and Gate 5, just to name a few. These are but just
a small sampling of developers that are embracing LBS and realizing the true value
and potential for more ARPU that results from location-enabling your applications.
Perhaps the best venue at the show to get a glimpse of some fantastic applications
was the Global LBS Challenge, hosted by leading data provider, Navteq. The event
recognizes excellence in the application of location-based services. Perhaps even
more important though, the event brings headlines and recognition to the concept
of spatially enabling mobile applications. To give you an idea how far things
have come in just one year, the 2004 LBS Challenge selected it's winner (Networks
in Motion) from a field of 40 entries. This year, the 2005 LBS Challenge had a
recod 180 appllication entries - kudos to the judges for the efforts to skinny
down this pool of talent to a field of 18.
 At the award ceremony, a field of 18 applications were recognized as finalists
in 6 categories. Winners of each category are given the distinction as an LBS
Challenge winner and each received $10,000 and $75k worth of Navteq data licenses.
On overall winner was then selected from the 6 category winners. The "Big Kahuna"
and Global LBS Challenge Winner received $50,000 and $100k in data licenses.
And so, the 6 categories and winners were as follows:
Personal Security - Clarity Communication Systems for their WhereAbouts application. Enables parents
to monitor and track children's location
Find-me Application - Loc-Aid Technologies for Loc-Aid People Service used to locate friends and
family.
Navigation/POI/Address lookup - InfoGation Corp provides real-time traffic, weather and gas price information
Commercial Advertising & Billing - Smartner Agent Service enables real estate professionals and home-seekers
to locate and manage real estate listings and related information.
Gaming & Location-based imaging - Networks in Motion and PhotoFinder allows users to manage photos containing
location tags, view them on a map and send to another phone or website along with
navigation to location where the picture was taken
2005 Global LBS Challenege Winner... Asset Tracking - Bones in Motion offers users an effortless way to wirelessly monitor, measure
and motivate users toward their fitness goals using a GPS-enabled mobile phone.
The application records time, distance, speed, location, splits, and calories
burned for outdoor activities. More info available from www.bimactive.com
The 18 LBS Challenge Finalists
The 2005 LBS Challenge recognized 18 companies for excellence in the development
of location-based solutions. The 18 finalists listed by category were as follows:
Asset Tracking/Field Services:
Commerce/Advertising/Buying/Selling
Gaming/Location-based Imaging
- Blister Entertainment's Torpedo Bay battle game (www.blisterent.com)
- Networks In Motion Inc. - manage photos with location tags and view on a map,
send to another device etc... (www.networksinmotion.com)
- uLocate Communications - enables GPS enabled camera users to post, view, and
tag phot6os (www.ulocate.com)
Navigation/POI/Traffic
- Appello systems - WISEPILOT transforms a mobile device into a navigation system
(www.appello.se)
- Infogation Corp - Provides real-time traffic, wether, and gas prices (www.infogation.com)
- Navstar Technologies Inc. - Voice navigation for hands-free operation (www.navstarinc.com)
Peer to Peer/Find Me
- iContact - find what's cool and hapenning around you (www.icontact.com)
- LOC-AID Technologies LLC - Loc-Aid People enables you to track and find friends
and family (www.loc-aid.net)
- Meetroduction LLC - Meetro enables you to wirelessly connect with people that
share similar interests (www.meetro.com)
Personal Security
- Clarity Communication Systems Inc - Wherabouts allows parents to track and monitor
the location of their children (www.claritycsi.com)
- Soniya Technology - FamilyLink enables simple access with a cell phone to track
and monitor loved onces (www.soniyatech.com)
- Teen Arrive Alive LLC - TAA provides a history of phone locations as well as
speed and heading displayed on Navteq maps. Useful for safety and emergency situations
(www.teenarrivealive.com)
The LBS Challenge is a fantastic forum for promoting location-based solutions
and is a great plug to the industry. Navteq is speculating that more than 300
applications will be entered in next year's contest. Winning companies not only
receive recognition and cash but the contest is a great spring board to bigger
and better things. Case in point, Networks In Motion, last year's winner has since
sold thousands of copies of their award winning application from 2004 - AtlasBook.
The company has also recently obtained some $6 million in venture capital financing
and a new CEO is now at the helm.
If your interested in registering for the 2006 LBS Challenge, registration will
begin in July 2005. Applicants can register with Navteq and also receive some
free smaple data for their apps if necessary. The 2006 Challenge will kick of
at Wireless IT this fall in San Francisco while final judging and the 2006 awards
will take place next spring at CTIA in Las Vegas (April, 2006) - Sponsors are
encouraged to contact Robin Jackson at Navteq (312-894-7398).
The LBS Challenge is truly a testament that Location-Based services are coming
on strong and will be a driving force in wireless technologies and perhaps more
important, helping mobile carriers generate increased ARPU. These awards truly
are the Academy Awards of LBS!
What's your take on location-based services? Will LBS finally become the killer
app we all thought it once would be? Feel free to send your comments to SymbianOne
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