• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Download full size image

New Software Uses Mobile Phones To Locate Friends

Posted on: Wednesday, 13 February 2008, 09:25 CST

A new technology that uses mobile phones as tracking devices may soon augment social networking sites such as Facebook to help people find the real-time location of their friends.

The new social network site, called Gypsii, was launched this week at the Mobile World Congress, one of the mobile industry's biggest trade shows, held this year in Spain. It enables users to find people, places and events anywhere in the world, as well as share photos, videos and audio files with their friends.

"Look, that's Bill, my friend in New York. He's 3,800 miles away," Gypsii’s director Toon Wee explained to AFP, as he pointed to a colored pin in the middle of a map of Manhattan while explaining the new technology.

Gypsii is compatible with many popular social networking sites, allowing the core location-specific functionality to be transferred to a user's Facebook page, displaying the location of themselves and their friends. For the moment, Gypsii’s software is only available on high-end mobile devices.

"The real time location-based element of Gypsii adds a new dimension to the social networking phenomenon," said Gypsii’s founder and chief executive Dan Harple.

A mobile device’s location can be determined in two ways. The first is via a Global Positioning System (GPS) chip, which allows a device to recognize its position based on communication with various satellites around the world.

The second method is by triangulation, whereby a mobile device sends signals to nearby communication towers and the speed with which the signals travel to different base stations determine the position .

Mobile location-based technologies such as these have allowed mobile phones to be located to within 75ft., sparking a wave of innovation in the mobile phone industry.

Dan Winterbottom, an analyst for IT research group Informa, told AFP that users of social networking sites are likely to be enthusiastic about the idea of locating their friends in real-time. However, he added that others might hesitate at the thought of being tracked, even (or perhaps above all) by their friends and family.

"When location-based services become most interesting is for social networking, the idea that you are able to add content and context of where you've been and where you are," he said.

"Only a small slice of the market would be happy to share information of this kind, but then, when you look at Facebook, you've already got people putting their address, telephone number, photos and other highly personal information there," he explained.

For their part, wireless network operators and application designers are flaunting new services ranging from personal navigation to locating children and fighting terrorism during this year’s Mobile World Congress show.

Nokia announced its next generation digital maps would display real-time walking directions on a mobile phone screen, the same way satellite navigation systems guide drivers.

Additionally, location technology will likely prove a powerful draw for advertisers, allowing them to send location-specific advertising content to potential customers when they are in a specific location.

Singapore's mobile network operator M1 is trialing a project that sends text messages to its one million subscribers whenever they come within 300 ft. of shopping districts. The operator said it sends 200,000-300,000 messages each day with valuable promotions from shops, restaurants and bars in and around the Orchard Street commercial center.

"The key is that the message has to be for a tangible benefit," chief executive Neil Montefiore said in an AFP report. "We did a two-month trial (before rolling out the service) and we got absolutely no complaints."

"One of the most successful advertisers has been an ice-cream stand," he added.

The operator allows users to block the ads by simply replying to a text message, and the company said it never sends more than two messages per day to the same subscriber.

Brian Varano, a market analyst at TruePosition, a location technology company, said location-based advertising also provides opportunities for Internet search engine companies such as Google. "If I do a local search and want to find the closest book store, the search might give me five book stores in the area, but it might be Barnes and Nobles at the top because they've paid for the top spot," he said.

TruePosition provides solutions to national intelligence agencies to track suspected terrorists, and also does forensic work after a mobile device has been used to remotely detonate explosives. Varano said the company was in discussions with several network operators to discuss opportunities for using their technology with social networking sites.

Although some see the new mobile location technologies as a first step down a path to dangerous big brother-style surveillance, many in attendance at the trade show are enthusiastic about the applications for new business and consumer services.

---

On the Net:

Gypsii

Mobile World Congress

AFP

Source: redOrbit Staff and Wire Reports

More News in this Category