Location-based services (LBS) are software services that allow apps to function as intended by collecting geodata and providing users with pertinent information based on their location. Examples include search, navigation, transportation, entertainment, social networking, marketing, shopping, remote health monitoring, parental control and asset tracking. These services rely on mobile networks to transmit and receive data and connect to analytics software operating on a remote server to process and send relevant data to the user.
They have existed since the early 1990s but only gained traction after May 2000, when the U.S. government stopped degrading the civil GPS signal (a policy known as Selective Availability). This increased GPS accuracy by an order of magnitude overnight, making many more civilian applications possible. Since then, software engineers and developers have been designing LBS and building location-aware apps to deliver contextually relevant experiences to end users.
Adoption of LBS has been extensive because these services produce quality geodata with personal, spatial and temporal dimensions. Although most people think of GPS when they think of geolocation, LBS is the unsung hero powering location-based online activities.
LBS combines various positioning solutions — including GNSS, and trilateration from cell towers, Wi-Fi hotspots and other signals of opportunity — to collect the most accurate location data possible outdoors and indoors.
LBS capitalizes on cell tower signals and Wi-Fi networks to gather geolocation when satellite reception is poor or entirely blocked, such as in urban canyons and underground parking lots. Although these alternative positioning systems are not as accurate as GNSS, the approximate location information they provide is generally sufficient for the purpose of the services — such as to find a store in a mall or a grader on a construction site.
Monetizing LBS
The advent of Web 2.0 and the mobile revolution have empowered Internet users to interact with their immediate physical world digitally. Suddenly, finding the shortest route in a new city, choosing from numerous restaurants for lunch, searching for the nearest gas station, consuming relevant stories on social media and snagging limited-time coupons and discounts are all possible at the tap of a button.
Physical location has become instrumental in personalized online experiences, hence the need for location-aware apps. Software vendors have embedded seamless data collection capability into electronic devices, creating a business ecosystem surrounding people’s location details.
Geodata collection is effortless but permission-based. While laws governing LBS vary by jurisdiction, they generally require users to accept an LBS-supported app’s privacy policy, which spells out what it does with location data. Additional steps include running the app and activating the device’s location service in the settings or approving on-screen permission request prompts before tracking can begin. Such a process helps ensure that users are aware of geodata collection and understand its inherent risks.
In the early days of LBS, tech pundits argued that marketers would capitalize on the technology to bombard consumers with ads. Those were prophetic words — many heavily used apps today use LBS. The tech companies behind them leverage geodata to create valuable products and sell advertising space through their platforms.
Although it is challenging to count the number of ads populating sites and apps, rough estimates say that average Internet users see thousands daily. It does not feel this way because in-your-face ads are no longer the norm in cyberspace — the discrete ones are, and they work. Experts predict that the $96 billion location-based advertising market will expand at a compound annual growth rate of 15.1% from 2023 to 2030.
Unsurprisingly, tech titans enjoy the lion’s share of digital advertising revenue. In the United States, Google, Meta and Amazon collectively accounted for about 62% of the pie in 2023.
Other corporate models exist to monetize geodata. The LBS-based game Pokémon Go is free to play, so it can grow a massive user base quickly and earn profits through in-game purchases. In addition to living off ad revenue, Tinder uses freemium pricing for its geographic matchmaking business and simplifies socialization and dating for paying subscribers.
Moreover, Uber, Lyft and Airbnb swell their coffers through commissions, earning a cut for every transaction on their platforms. Big box store Target blends indoor mapping, beacon technology and geofencing to enable shoppers to pick up their orders at the nearest store’s entrance when they arrive. Aside from mostly Silicon Valley titans that have developed and gainfully used LBS for themselves to increase their valuations, others have decided to help non-tech enterprises innovate by integrating location-based technology into their operations.
Democratizing Mapmaking
Disrupting cartography is a low-hanging fruit. Humans have been drawing maps for millennia, yet many areas remain unmapped. Public maps usually exclude private locations. When they are part of the picture, these areas lack meaningful details to aid navigators.
Solutions such as HERE Mapmaking aim to address these challenges. By combining GNSS positioning with satellite imagery, location data from cellular networks and Wi-Fi hotspots, and signals from a variety of sensors, HERE enables automotive and mass-market devices to map areas and features with sub-meter accuracy. To deliver a faster time-to-first-fix and display the positions of navigation devices correctly, this provider of digital mapping and location data leverages a full positioning technology stack, including power-efficient sensors and map tiles.
Built on the HERE platform, this mapmaking solution primarily caters to automakers, transportation and logistics enterprises, e-commerce brands, public agencies and more. However, the company ensures its solution is powerful enough for developers by providing CLIs and APIs. At the same time, the platform remains intuitive for casual or less-technical users, such as students and data journalists, thanks to HERE XYZ — an interoperable, real-time, open location data management service.
“Various elements of HERE XYZ are now embedded within HERE Mapmaking,” said Alex Gevrenov, senior director of product management at HERE Technologies. “This is where users can create unique (owned / proprietary), routing-capable maps that can be used at scale using simply our developer tools and HERE location services and SDKs.”
The inclusion of HERE XYZ gives users live access to uploaded data and more flexibility in using rendering tools to pinpoint the precise whereabouts of devices and assets in indoor and outdoor settings. It also enables them to instantly share location data via the cloud. These capabilities are helpful when building offline and online interactive maps with spatial intelligence for location-aware apps with no or little code.
Customization and responsiveness are crucial in interactive cartography. HERE XYZ complements the platform’s routing, geocoding and search functionalities.
Furthermore, Gevrenov explains that with the rollout of UniMap — a new automated mapping system — interactive maps built on the HERE platform can now detect and reflect changes in the physical environment within 24 hours. “We are now externalizing these cutting-edge capabilities to make mapping at scale easy for our customers and partners.”
