Location Based Services: A 360 Degree Perspective

Location based services or LBS refer to applications that utilise the geographical position of a mobile device to provide personalisation and other conditioning of the content that the services have to offer.

Regulatory or Emergency Services have been the primary drivers for increase in the uptake of other categories of services based on location information in countries like USA and Japan. In India, due to several security reasons the Government has started investigating how the location of mobile devices can be determined within a 50-100 ft. range. Once this becomes a regulatory mandate for operators to provide the location information as the legal intercept capability and also because of the fact that in India the operators will have to price the localisation mechanism for getting this capability installed in the networks, operators will look for ways to increasingly monetise the services based on the location information, thus fueling growth in this segment.

In Consumer Oriented services options like Navigation, Family and Friend Finder and so on are available. Navigation is probably the most popular and widely used service based on location in countries like USA and Japan. In India however, the need for navigational services is not that big at the moment. This is because majority of the motorists have either chauffeurs or ask around get directions. Lack of proper signs on the roads and lack of comprehensive mapping under the Geographical Mapping System (GIS) are some obstacles that will take some time to be overcome. Lack of GPS enabled devices at affordable prices is also one of the biggest bottlenecks that prevent the uptake of such services in India. For any technology to be successful it has to reach the masses and should also address a common need. That means the focus should be to address the needs of the rural masses.

There are numerous needs of the common man that can be better addressed by enabling location based information. Some applications of LBS that are being promoted are:-

- Weather alerts: Fishermen, farmers and others can get the alerts so that they can plan their activities for the day accordingly.

- Alerts related to transport: Consumers can get alerts related to the schedule and availability of buses, trains, cabs, auto rickshaws etc. Taxis and autorickshaw drivers can also benefit from information on the needs of their clients.

- Alerts related to consumer goods: This can be utilised for availability of goods through official distribution channels.

- Alerts related to needs of small businesses mobile workforce needs.

- Alerts related to medical needs: Government drives for health like polio drops etc can be have better penetration with LBS.

- Location based advertising can help producers and consumers bridge the gaps and have more targeted offerings.

With regard to Enterprise Services, LBS enables firms in fleet and asset tracking, field service dispatching, route and delivery optimisation, and mobile workforce management. This allows FMCG companies to meet the demands of a resurgent rural market in India in a better way.