Location Based Services
February 25th, 2009 by Jayne WesnerIn my opinion, location based services will be next big thing to hit both the Internet and mobile Internet users. Just as Twitter took a while to gain an Internet presence and is now starting to really explode, I feel that location-based services will do the same.
For example, Loopt is a Smartphone application where you are able to connect with friends and find out where they are. For example, if I were heading to Barnes& Noble I could use the Loopt feature to see if any of my friends were there. To do this, I would sign in to Loopt via my iPhone and look at my friends list to see where they are. Right now this isn’t very widely used as many people are just learning of the application. But, it has to start somewhere right? This social networking platform can by synched with Facebook, Twitter among other social networking sites so you are able to alert others not on your Loopt friends list of your whereabouts.
For location based services to work on your phone it needs to have a Global Position System (GPS). That is the technology that is able to pinpoint your location. This information would then be shared with those throughout your friends lists.
Location based services help with more than just friendly meet ups though. For instnace, if you were searching for a restaurant you could plug your preferences into your application and it would pull up the different restaurants near you. Or, if you were in an emergency situation and called 9-1-1, the emergency response team would be able to locate exactly where you were located.
It’s easy to see that location based services are going to be the next big thing in mobile technology. Are you going to take advantage of these great services?
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