Location-Based Services: Navigation for the masses, at last!

This paper covers the current status of wireless network location capabilities, including a view of each method describing the strengths and weaknesses of the various approaches. The paper will describe developments in network-assisted GPS to reveal the capabilities of the so-called high sensitivity receivers. The question of what has to be done to get GPS to work indoors will be answered, together with the impact of this capability on the positioning of mobile telephones fitted with GPS capability. The paper discusses the concepts of integrating terrestrial network-derived location with GPS/GNSS and very short range location systems such as Bluetooth. It will explain how Location-Based Services are operated, when they will become widely available, some of the key applications and the impact of this technology on some of the traditional sciences, in particular mapping. This area of navigation is developing extremely rapidly, with potentially a huge market for navigation on land.