Location-based services enhance metro offerings

-->Municipalities are poised to make increasing use of location-based services as more and more wireless networks come online. New applications which identify the location of a Wi-Fi device are beginning to enter the market. NAVTEQ, which provides digital maps for vehicular GPS navigation systems, and Skyhook Wireless, which makes software positioning systems for Wi-Fi devices, this week announced NAVTEQ will resell Skyhook’s software with its maps. Skyhook’s products leverage metro Wi-Fi networks, using databases of known Wi-Fi access points around the cities to pinpoint the precise location of Wi-Fi devices that are logged into them. What I find interesting is the range of applications that are starting to evolve—from public safety applications that help first responders pinpoint the location of contacts made via Wi-Fi phones to services provided to tourists in the area. This is not the first time that NAVTEQ has partnered with Skyhook. The companies worked together on ReignCom's iriver W10 which uses Skyhook’s technology with a pedestrian guide from NAVTEQ to give mobile consumers access to information on sites, hotels, restaurants and other amenities in a city.