Mobile Location Services - always in touch on the move (page 1 of 4)

With mobility, location becomes a critical attribute that can be exploited by all involved in the wireless value chain.

Location-relevant services are one of the key elements in the Mobile Internet. E-OTD is one of the advanced technologies that can be employed to determine the physical location of a mobile subscriber, thus enabling location-relevant services. Deployment of E-OTD positioning can be made with minimum additional network investment because the solution is fully integrated into GSM network architecture. There is virtually no extra costs for terminals, either.

Terminal- or network-based positioning methods provide a means to locate a subscriber and/or valid mobile equipment. Positioning may be initiated by the subscriber, the network or an external application. Mobile operators (e.g. home/office zone applications and network planning applications), third-party service providers and government agencies (e.g. locating emergency calls), (e.g. electronic yellow page for nearby services and "where am I" applications) are just a few of the entities that will employ mobile services.

Positioning technologies can be divided to three categories: basic, enhanced and advanced. Basic positioning methods are based on the use of cell identification (cell id). Cell id can be used alone, or together with timing advance (TA) and network measurement reports (NMR). Enhanced Observed Time Difference (E-OTD) is usually referred to as an enhanced positioning method. Assisted GPS (A-GPS) is an advanced positioning method.

The division of the position technologies above is based on accuracy of the positioning method. Other important factors are, for example, complexity of the system and the investment needed on the network side and possibly in handsets.

Mobile Location Services are value-added services that utilize the user's position information. From the user's perspective these services provide:

• localized and up-to-date information.
• personalized information.
• increased efficiency and pertinence.
• increased safety.

Mobile Location Services are not in themselves to be identified as a set of killer applications but rather location information will be integrated as the value-adding element in a whole range of services. For example, tourist information services letting you know the price of fuel in a country do not deliver value but being directed to the cheapest petrol station near your location does. An attractive set of location-based killer applications will be based on life management services supported by a dynamic portal that uses end-users' personalization details to change the type of information and delivery method according to the end-user's changing time or context (home, office, morning, evening, etc.).

Mobile services benefit from three major factors that boost information value to the end-user: personality, time-criticality, and location-dependency.

From the operator's perspective, the location element allows information to be more precisely targeted for users. Also, location-based applications are facilitators of catchy user services, eg elements of M-commerce.

The location information has no value in itself; it is only a medium for provisioning valuable applications relevant to a user at a specific location and at a specific point in time. Although location information is a highly efficient feature for bringing added value to several applications, positioning should remain transparent to the end-user.

There are three major market drivers for Mobile Location Services.