Location Based Services the Unfulfilled Dream

location based services


GPS and the soon to be operational Galileo network of satellites have created an unending appetite for very accurate location based systems with both consumer and business alike looking for location services that can assist each other to locate, or be located, at the right time.Unfortunately, even at around $1 billion dollars per satellite (there are currently 30 in the constellation) the reality is not as good we would all believe, it is only two years ago that a cell (mobile based) system was started in the Sydney CDB claiming to provide sub 100 cubic meter accuracy, that’s 3,500 cubic feet in old money, which is ok if I am trying to find the CBD in greater Sydney. However, if I as a consumer wished to find the QVB, or a specific store within the QVB, it is of little use to me, or for a business owner wishing to direct customer to my store.GPS is a little better in city centres but not much better with an accuracy of approximately 50 cubic meters as a result of multiple paths that GPS signals have to take off all of our various buildings and skyscrapers, which still leaves me struggling to secure that store location in the QVB.Fulfilling this dream is an Australian company Locata who have spent that last ten years reviewing, pondering and solving this exact problem of delivering accurate location services (accuracy to 1mm for an object) by creating a local ground based constellation, which no other company globally has yet solved. Locata is an extension and expansion of the GPS concept of locating people, objects, etc. It works seamlessly with GPS, but can also operate as an independent and self contained system when GPS is not sufficient. It is terrestrially based, provides strong signals, and works in any environment – CBD, mining, item location in a warehouse, structural deformation management, etc. Locata is not designed to replace GPS; rather it creates an augmentation to GPS services that is a logical evolution of location based services.Locata is a terrestrially based, location system that closely parallels GPS in system design and performance. Specifically, designed for location, Locata signal strengths are comparable to mobile phone signals. It provides better than meter-level location in difficult environments and sub-centimetre to millimetre level location in less obstructed environments.Locata technology provides a technically superior solution for location services that extends and expands the capability of extant GPS services. Locata provides highly accurate and reliable location information in any environment. Locata operates in the ISM band at 2.4 GHz and does not interfere with the existing GPS frequencies.This technology will allow positioning applications to function in places where GPS fails or is completely ineffective - especially in commercial, industrial, urban and indoor environments. The technology underpins new solutions for many markets that are both better and more reliable than current positioning systems. The positioning industry is starting to recognize this technology as a global game changer. Early adopters include all of the world’s large “professional GPS” companies, the US military, DeBeers, Anglo American, and renowned academic institutions around the world.This is the world’s first viable and accurate solution which enables precise (within centimeters) positioning indoors and outdoors across business areas, campuses or entire cities. Creating personal positioning visions which have been much publicized by the likes of EPIC, Google, Microsoft, Minority Report, and The Da Vinci Code…………………..