Mobile network operator Orange is set to launch the first of the
next generation of location-based mobile phone services early next
year.
The Orange service will be the first of its type to enable location
of a mobile phone user by triangulation.
Current services simply locate a user by which phone cell they are
in, which gives accuracy from 100m to 30km depending on cell size.
The new service gives a position accurate to within 50m-100m in the
mobile cell by measuring time or angle from the base station.
The service will, however, still be dependent on the user keying
their precise location into maps shown on the handset.
It will enable users to locate nearby retail outlets, restaurants,
banks and be given instructions on how to get there. It will also
have a "buddy finder", allowing them to discover where their
friends are.
However, industry watchers believe it will be some time before the
location-finding methods, bandwidth and sophistication of back-end
systems will be able to deliver a highly accurate service without
intervention from the user.
Dario Betti, an analyst with Ovum, believes sophisticated and
precise location-based mobile phone services are being held back by
the structure of the market.
"The technologies exist and demand is out there. But the network
operators have not been good at developing the necessary
infrastructure - they have tended to focus on mass-market
applications that do not need too much tailoring," he said.
Orange recently signed a deal with Webraska, a supplier of software
linking location-finding technology with business information.