Your Cell Phone Can Help Find You
Overseas, they're already implementing mobile tracking that will give you location-specific resources.
Rick Perera, IDG News Service
Thursday, November 02, 2000
Jaan Jagomagi sends a brief Short Message Service (SMS) on his mobile phone. A few seconds later, a map appears on the phone's display. It pinpoints his current location, in the center of the Estonian capital city, Tallinn. It's hard to make out details of the map on the small LCD display, but the point is clear: the wireless provider knows exactly where Jagomagi is.
"Location-based" services using that knowledge are on the way, whether you're in Estonia or your own backyard. Using your mobile phone, you'll be able to request lists of nearby hotels, restaurants, or service stations. And it doesn't matter where you are: the results automatically will be based on your current location.
Jagomagi's company, AS Regio, has developed software for this type of Mobile Positioning System (MPS) service. Together with mobile carrier AS Eesti Mobiiltelefon (Estonian Mobile Telephone, or EMT), Regio is launching in November what the companies say is the world's first such commercially available service.
Such capabilities are drawing greater interest as mobile phone and PDA functions blur. For example, service providers envision shooting you, a known aficionado of Chinese food, an e-mail alert via your mobile device letting you know about the highly-rated restaurant just a block away. Of course, the value of Global Positioning System (GPS) capabilities in map software is evident. (See "Map Your Palm for an Urban Safari" and "Palm Helps You Do New York." )
But Who's Watching You Move?
Other uses for the new MPS services include tracking a vehicle's location for fleet management, car anti-theft devices that can find a stolen vehicle, and a map plotter to help two mobile phone users find each other, Jagomagi says.
EMT development and technology director Tonu Grunberg says the company has contracted with the Estonian Rescue Board to pinpoint the location of mobile phone users who dial the 112 emergency number. Estonia is the first country to implement such a technology, he says.
"The accuracy is not very good in rural areas -- 300 to 500 meters -- but in city areas it's quite exact because there are so many base stations," he says.
The technology also has potential uses for law enforcement. Already, Estonian officials have used MPS to locate criminal suspects, says Linnar Viik, IT adviser to the country's prime minister.
"We have had a couple of cases of criminal investigations where a court has admitted it [as evidence] for tracking a mobile phone," Viik says.
"In one gun-trading case, a person was located in [the city of] Tartu because he made a mobile call." Asked if such tracking technology raises potential human rights concerns, Viik says legal safeguards are in place to prevent its abuse. "Not the police, not even the secret service have the right to track. They have to go to a court to get a one-time permission to go to the telephone company" and request location data.
Grunberg also says his company has implemented strict security measures, similar to those in place for online banking. "Only people who want to can be tracked. It's up to each person to decide," he says. That's an issue that's quickly moving from theory to reality for users of mobile devices.
(See "Service Offers to Beam Coupons to Your PDA." ) Your Cell Phone Can Help Find You Overseas, they're a lready implementing mobile tracking that will give you location-specific resources.
Rick Perera, IDG News Se rvice - Thursday, November 02, 2000