The challenge to deliver Location based services


Last week I spent a couple of days with Reuters, as part of their excellent Innovation Programme looking at the potential for new products and services in the next 5-10 years. It is vital for information businesses such as Reuters to do this, as it is for any knowledge business, as the barriers to entry in the web 2.0 world are low for future potential competitors.
Within the geospatial industry many of us are excited by the prospect of ambient geospatial information and the ability of future devices to really deliver services using the location of the user to provide the much needed context.
The interest of Reuters in this is just one example of the increased awareness of the importance of “where” in delivering future consumer focused services, as with many things maybe it will take at least three or four attempts for “location based services” to reach the mainstream.
There are still many challenges to deliver LBS operationally, data availability, privacy concerns, standards, etc and of course the business model - however maybe awareness and the interest to innovate in this space is no longer a problem
If you don’t believe me just type iPhone and GPS into Google and see what you get !
Written and submitted from Starbucks, Fleet Street, using the BTOpenzone 802.11 network.