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SymbianOne Monitor... GPS - Ready For Prime Time? |
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Written by SymbianOne
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Saturday, 25 August 2007 |
 From the most recent edition of the bi-weekly SymbianOne Monitor, GPS and mobile
positioning is grabbing loads of attention and news headlines lately, however,
is this technology ready for prime time?
Just recently week we've seen QUALCOMM announce that they've now shipped more
than 300 million GPS-enabled mobile handsets! In the USA, AAA ("THE" auto club)
announced the launch of their LBS platform, AAA Mobile. Developed by Networks
In Motion (NIM) - recall these guys scored a big win in the Navteq LBS Challenge
a couple of years ago. Obviously, this was a no-brainer for AAA given that research
has shown that more than 84% of their customers use mobile handsets, most of them
having 2 or more devices in use in their family. Oh, did I mention that AAA has
more than 50 million members? Unfortunately, the AAA mobile service just launched
on Sprint (think CDMA) although "another carrier" is rumored to be launching the
service in the future. Perhaps one day in the future I'll be able to test an LBS
service on a GSM handset (like my Nokia N95) and use it with my current plan on
T-Mobile.
With GPS shipping on handsets there appears to still be much confusion and unanswered
questions being posed by users. Does my device have GPS? How do I know it has
GPS? How do I activate the GPS? How accurate is the GPS? What services does GPS
enable me to use? I could go on. We've heard about hundreds of millions of GPS-enabled
device users around the Globe, however, are these people actually taking advantage
of mobile positioning? My Nokia N95 has integrated GPS (as does the Nokia 6110
Navigator and Nokia E90), however, I'm still fumbling, trying to have my photos
geolocated "automatically"... something that I assumed would be a no-brainer (although
thanks to locr and Yahoo! it's getting easier!). A search around flickr leads
me to many Geolocation tools, add-ons, and other 3rd party applications... some
don't support the N95, some in Beta, some developed by research labs... until
I find the best solution I'm left dragging my photos onto a map in an effort to
geoposition them. I have access to other "location-sensitive" applications on
my deck, like Twitter, Twibble, Zurfer, and many others however, none of them
seem to be able to access and use my position to geolocate my data for use in
the application. I'm told via support that I can enable the GPS positioning to
relay that information... "if I tweak and alter some settings"... realistically
though, why should I have to? GPS is quickly become a must-have feature of the
smartphone, however, its not quite ready for prime time... but we're close! Do
you have a tip on an LBS app that is simple, effective, and useful? Please share
details with us - send details to info at symbianOne.com.
For more on this topic and to view the latest Symbian ecosystem news round-up
see this edition of The SymbianOne Monitor |
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