Location-based services are mobile services that provide relevant content to the user on the smart phone with the aid of position-dependent data. Doesn’t sound that exciting. That’s what it’s like to get ads on your smart phone, isn’t it? Who could want that? Apart from the fact that 79 percent of all consumers use their smart phones in shops and are very interested in additional content, the LBS/smart phone/advertising approach is also too short.
The decisive words in the very short definition are “position-dependent” and “relevant”. Location based services provide users with content they are very interested in at this very moment and at their current location. This user CAN be a consumer in a department store who wants information about a product, but this user CAN also be a service technician who is to maintain the ventilation shaft 34/a-Z2 in this department store and want to call up the latest maintenance report online. It CAN be a fan in the arena of its favorite club looking for the merchandising stand with the shortest waiting time. Or a passenger somewhere in the world who can be navigated to his gate in his native language. Nearly four years ago, we wrote this highly regarded text about what distinguishes location-based services in retail from uninteresting and annoying push spam. And every word still applies.
When we think of location based services only in retail/stationary trade, we limit the power of this technology. Speaking of technology. Which technology is used to determine the location of the user? If you think about location-based services, you usually have WLAN or beacons, iBeacons, i.e. the now familiar Bluetooth transmitters, in your head. In the meantime, however, the trend among the leading location-based services providers is towards “Sensor Fusion”. This means that different technologies are combined in one installation in order to absorb the specific disadvantages of one technology through the advantages of the other technology. If you are looking for a full-service provider, you should make sure that there is more than one technology in your portfolio.
The site locationbased-services.de has recently been launched in english to provide information on the possibilities for positioning and the wide range of applications for location-based services in the various industries. The authors have summarized the most important information in a clear and tidy manner. If you like, you can ask further questions directly to the experts of the European market leader for location-based services.