New technology from product development firm Cambridge Consultants can accurately detect someone’s location indoors when GPS drops out. A number of sensors and a custom algorithm determine the location, with an accuracy of within approximately 1 percent of the distance traveled.
The technology uses low-power, low-cost sensors and the device concept is small enough to clip on a belt. It also doesn’t need any existing internal infrastructure.
“We are excited about the many possibilities this cutting-edge technology opens up and the impact it can have in many different situations,” said Geoff Smithson, technology director, sensing systems, at Cambridge Consultants. “It could be used to help locate firefighters in smoke-filled buildings, for example, or to pinpoint the closest doctor in a hospital during an emergency — or to track offenders during home curfews. We are just starting to see the potential of this approach and the diverse demand for this type of low-energy, highly accurate system.”
Indoor tracking systems, which process data from one or more sources of location information to estimate where a person or object is located, are not new. But they often rely on RF signals from Wi-Fi access points or custom infrastructure, poor-quality GPS signals or expensive, high-quality sensors. The availability of low-cost smartphone components — including accelerometers, gyroscopes, magnetometers and pressure sensors — has enabled a new generation of location devices and applications, when combined with a tailored Bayesian algorithm to fuse the information.
The new technology platform can be embedded in an existing design or operate as a stand-alone unit, with options to compute the location locally or transmit the information to a remote system that can process the data before visualizing it on a smartphone app.
“Our biggest challenges were developing an algorithm which optimally combines the data from GPS and the other sensors, and overcoming the issues of using such low-cost sensors in a system without any absolute location reference,” said Smithson.
Cambridge Consultants specializes in developing low-cost, low-power connected devices for clients with a team of experts with sensing, wireless and software engineering expertise. The latest technology builds on the company’s tracking and location systems experience in a variety of market sectors ranging from defense and security to consumer, industrial, and oil and gas.
Vuzix Corporation today announced that it has begun shipping M100 Smart Glasses to the first of its Gold developer partners — enabling them to start creating and testing their apps on the real hardware.
The M100 Smart Glasses are a smart hands-free display and communications device for mobile data access, once paired to a smartphone and connected to the Internet. The glasses include an integrated head tracker and GPS for spatial and positional awareness.
Vuzix is a supplier of Video Eyewear products in the consumer, commercial and entertainment markets.
Google Glass
The M100 is in competition — and a race to market — with Google Glass, a similar wearable device. Google recently held a contest to provide sample sets of the glasses to non-developers willing to pay $1,500 — which encouraged Internet and media buzz.
M100 Smart Glasses
Google Glass could be released to the mass market by the end of the year. Google Inc. already sold an unspecified number of the glasses to developers who also paid $1,500 apiece at a company conference in June 2012. The mass-market version of Google Glass is expected to cost less than $1,500, but more than a smartphone.
Like the M100, Google Glass is intended to perform many of the same tasks as smartphones. The glasses include a little display screen attached to a rim above the right eye, run on Google’s Android operating system, and respond to voice commands, which is intended to make it easier for people to take pictures or record video wherever they might be (such as skydiving or riding a rollercoaster). Here is a video showing the glasses in action:
When he demonstrated the glasses at last June’s company conference, Google co-founder Sergey Brin acknowledged the company was still working out bugs and trying to figure out how to extend the product’s battery life.
Privacy Concerns. The ease of taking pictures and recording video with the glasses is causing some to question whether privacy will be affected. zdnet blogger Ben Woods writes, “These glasses can instantly capture and store every move of everyone around the person wearing them. Remember that drunken argument you had with your partner? Well, now Google Glass will mean you have no possibility of forgetting it. If it’s entertaining enough, or you’re well-known enough, the video of that argument could well be on YouTube before you get home. Do you do a lot of business on the phone while out and about or while sitting in coffee shops? Will you continue to, if you know that every call could be recorded by the stranger sitting at the table opposite, staring innocently at the picture on the wall behind your head?”
Google first began developing the glasses in 2010 as part of a secretive company division now known as Google X.
How the M100 is worn.
Vuzix Showstopper. Displayed at Mobile World Congress in February as a “Showstopper,” the M100 contains a near-eye micro display with an integrated camera and powerful processor running an Android OS. It connects wirelessly to a user’s smartphone (iOS or Android) or other compatible device via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, can connect directly to the Internet, and run applications and games on its own. Working in harmony with a user’s smartphone, the M100 enables access to a vast array of existing and future text, video, GPS, and audio applications, Vuzix said.
With the glasses, users can answer the phone using a visual address book, record video and run applications, including basic augmented reality apps. Interactive tracking and an integrated camera, combined with newly developed applications on the M100 and a wireless link to the Cloud, enable the merging of virtual information with the real world. An integrated camera enables video recording, still image capture and the potential for powerful augmented reality applications.
Industry, Medical. “Although we are seeing applications developed in most every market, there has been a strong focus on the industrial and medical markets,” said Paul J. Travers, chief executive officer.
“Our Company has a focus on developing the fundamental tools that enable applications from training to warehousing,” said Pete Wassell, president of Augmate Corporation, one of the first M100 Gold developers. “This new category of device is going to revolutionize many markets by injecting cloud-connected, hands-free and geospatially accurate information to applications that desperately need it. The M100 does a great job of delivering on that promise.”
The Vuzix developer program offers early access to the M100 smart glasses, technical support and advice. The M100 software developers kit is available in two versions, Gold and Silver. These SDKs are being delivered in stages and include frequent updates, hardware advances when released, and access to the developer center to provide technical and developer community support.
Because the demand is strong, Vuzix is delivering the first smart glasses on a first-come, first-served basis with custom-built prototypes going exclusively to its Gold Developers.
A new technology to combat dozing off when driving is being developed by two universities with industry partner Ficosa. The drowsiness alerter, Somnoalert, is a smartphone application that uses inertial sensors and GPS data to detect movements that are characteristic of nodding off at the wheel, such as deviation from the driving lane or sudden corrections. A later prototype also incorporates biomedical sensors to analyze respiration data.
“One of the main causes of car accidents is drowsiness, especially on long highway trips,” explains Santiago. “Most monitoring systems developed in the last few years have been integrated systems that need to be connected to the car’s system. Our device combines our group’s expertise in sensors and biological data analysis with FICOSA’s vehicle know-how, and is completely portable.”
“Accidents related with drowsiness have a very high social and economical impact, that the key automotive industry players are facing as a whole, in order to reduce current accident statistics,” said Alan Montesi, who heads the project for FICOSA.
By Zainab Syed, Jacques Georgy, Abdelrahman Ali, Hsiu-Wen Chang, and Chris Goodall
Using a select set of components, a navigation software development kit can easily be configured to fit a variety of mobile and portable devices. Testing on several current devices demonstrates that the kit’s use of sensors already present in smartphones to enable entertainment can provide 3D positioning when satellite signals are degraded or absent, such as in urban canyons or in deep indoor environments. The solution also provides the heading of the user, the 3D orientation of the device, and the user’s velocity, without restriction on device usage.
Location-based services (LBS) have evolved to the point that a smartphone is considered incomplete if it does not have navigation functionality. In fact, basic navigation functionalities are no longer sufficient, because of the limited capabilities of traditional solutions. Traditional navigation techniques are usually based on the trilateration of GPS signals. Smartphones use Assisted GPS (AGPS) technology, which utilizes pre-knowledge about the satellite constellation to provide GPS-based positions in urban canyons and indoor environments, a capability once considered impossible. Because GPS signals cannot reach indoor environments, some companies have developed map databases to provide a positioning solution using available Wi-Fi signals. The concept is simple: to provide absolute positioning where GPS signals are too weak or are unavailable. However, such a solution requires continuous updates of ever-changing Wi-Fi hotspot maps, making this a costly system to manage. Nevertheless, it is an attractive option for positioning in the absence of GPS signals.
Because LBS demand reliability, continuity, and accuracy in all environments, as well as information about the headings of the device and user, many research groups and technology companies are working to achieve these goals by integrating the aforementioned positioning methods with pre-existing sensors in smartphones. Currently, micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) sensors are used predominantly for entertainment applications in the phone. The orientation of the screen is sensed by the MEMS accelerometers, which switch the display orientation according to the user’s needs. Some applications use the accelerometers and magnetometer to provide an indoor navigation solution starting from a user-defined position, but only if the smartphone is kept in a fixed orientation — an unrealistic assumption. Other recent research works also include gyroscopes for navigation. In general, it has been found that embedded mobile-phone sensors are insufficient for reliable navigation purposes because of very high noise, large random drift rates, and also because it can be assumed that the mobile device is able to freely change orientation with respect to the moving platform (the human body while walking, or a vehicle while driving).
This article provides the results of using an efficient and high-rate navigation platform with low computational requirements for mobile devices. Known as the Trusted Portable Navigator (T-PN), it utilizes a smartphone’s existing MEMS sensors. Despite some of the challenges with MEMS, the T-PN can provide a real-time, continuous, and reliable navigation solution that works regardless of the motion pattern of the user. Example motion patterns include walking with the smartphone indoors or outdoors; driving in clear sky conditions, downtown, or through tunnels and underground parkades; or a combination of walking and driving in any environment.
The main challenge with low-cost MEMS sensors in smartphones is that they cannot be used without proper error modeling because of high noise characteristics and bias instabilities. Thus, the T-PN has innovative algorithms that autonomously develop custom error models, turning the available sensors into navigation-capable inertial sensors, without any restrictions on the user or any delay in the navigation solution.
Current consumer mobile devices can be used in a variety of ways; for example, while texting, on the ear, in pocket, dangling freely while handheld, and on a belt. The orientation of the phone changes significantly with each use case, which makes accurate sensor-based navigation very difficult to achieve if referenced to the user. The common practice in traditional inertial navigation is to attach and align the device to the moving body. However, it is unrealistic to ask a user to keep their phone in any specific orientation. To solve this problem, the T-PN calculates these orientation angles in real-time and uses them as corrections for the user’s attitude and position.
The ultimate demonstration of the T-PN’s capabilities is its real-time performance in smartphones and tablets. The tests described here were performed on the commercially-available Android and QNX operating systems in tablets and smartphones. The T-PN was packaged and built at the native level to ensure computational efficiency. Several devices were used in the real time testing, including: the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, the Samsung Galaxy Note, the Samsung Galaxy S III, and the Blackberry Playbook. This device selection is an accurate sampling of the current mobile technologies available today.
Other manufacturers will have more of these devices running newer versions of Android and other operating systems. All of these devices include tri-axial gyroscopes, tri-axial accelerometers, tri-axial magnetometers, a barometer, and a GPS chipset with AGPS capabilities. All the devices used feature different brands of these low-cost sensors.
Sensor Calibration
The sensors need to be calibrated for two different types of errors to ensure a precise and accurate navigation solution. The first type of calibration is known as deterministic errors calibration, which includes the estimation of initial turn-on biases and scale factors of the sensors. For very high-cost systems these errors are usually negligible, but mobile phone-grade sensors show high variations from turn-on to turn-on.
The second type of calibration is more involved and labor-intensive, as it requires large static datasets. Allan variance curves are calculated to estimate the bias instability and random walk parameters. These parameters are called stochastic error model parameters and are necessary to obtain optimum results for longer periods of standalone navigation. They are also very important when attempting to design a consistent filter. For very low-cost sensors, these parameters may change from unit to sensor, and over time for the same sensor. This means that individual systems may demonstrate different performances with the exact same integration software.
The T-PN eliminates the need of any calibration, as it uses a patent-pending technique that automatically completes all the required calibration within 5–10 minutes of the navigation mission. The only requirement is the availability of a good GPS position, velocity, and timing (PVT) solution for at least 5–10 minutes. Starting from generic calibration parameters, artificial intelligence techniques quickly narrow down the search to the most optimum error-model parameters. This makes the T-PN suitable for navigation use with mobile phone-grade inertial sensors.
Changing Orientations
Changing orientations cannot be avoided for smartphone-based navigation. While navigating, users will take calls, text, and check their position; therefore it is impractical to request that the user keep the phone fixed to their body. The solution must be robust to provide navigation for these common use-case scenarios.
The T-PN uses patent-pending techniques to identify the changing orientations as they occur and adjust the user’s navigation solution accordingly. The result is a seamless and robust solution, with or without GPS.
Mode of Transit
Mobile phone navigation cannot be restricted to pedestrian-only or vehicle-only cases. The user will be carrying the device wherever they will go, which requires the navigation software to be adaptable for the user’s mode of transit.
Through a patent-pending technology, the user’s mode of transit is detected. Different modes may include walking, using the stairs, driving, riding an elevator, and static periods related to the above modes. Once the mode is detected, the appropriate algorithms and constraints are applied to ensure minimal navigation drift, even for long periods of standalone sensor navigation. There is no restriction on modes of transit or any requirement to perform a special task, making the T-PN user-friendly and efficient.
T-PN Overview
The T-PN is highly customizable software that converts any quality and grade of inertial sensors into a navigation-capable system. In other words, it can be used on any available smartphone operating system, such as Android. This navigation engine takes any available measurements and improves the navigation results by filtering the updates. GPS is the most common type of external update that provides absolute position and velocity information to the inertial engine and reduces time-related errors.
Wi-Fi is another absolute update for positioning in deep indoor scenarios, and is also accepted by the T-PN. Wi-Fi measurements are noisy, but the T-PN integrated solution smooths the noise and closely represents the user’s actual position. Wi-Fi updates are optional for T-PN, but they will enhance the solution if long periods of indoor navigation are desired.
Physical movements of the user, such as pedestrian dead reckoning, zero-velocity updates, and non-holonomic conditions are used as constraints to improve the navigation solution.
The constraints are also tailored to the user’s mode of transit to ensure the most robust solution for the user. Mode of transit is automatically detected on a continuous basis.
If additional sensors such as magnetometers and barometers are present and properly calibrated by the T-PN software, their readings can be used as optional updates. Figure 1 shows a complete flowchart of the algorithm for the T-PN. The dashed lines show the optional updates for the T-PN.
Figure 1. The T-PN algorithm flowchart.
Hardware Description and Use Cases
The test platforms used are smartphones and tablets running different versions of Android and QNX. The opening picture shows some of these units, listed here with their operating systems.
A variety of use cases, listed in Table 1, are currently supported in the T-PN.
Table 1. Current supported use cases.
Results
The results are divided into three sections:
the results for consumer navigation and their respective LBS applications;
tracking applications for personnel on-foot and in-vehicle;
and driving with or without GPS with the device left on the seat or holder with or without a connection to the on-board diagnostic system (OBDII) of the vehicle.
Consumer Navigation, LBS App. This is a very typical use case. It involves the user starting the navigation after parking his/her vehicle to locate a certain destination in an indoor environment; for example, a specific store in a shopping center or an office inside a building. As the user heads deep indoors, GPS will stop providing any useful positioning information, as illustrated in Figure 2 (blue line). The user started the navigation in texting portrait mode, then held the phone in hand for some time and let it dangle naturally, and then finally puts the phone in his or her pocket. The trajectory in red is the T-PN solution and the blue line shows the available GPS solution. The Samsung Galaxy S III was used in this trajectory, with a maximum error of less than 7 meters for 2 minutes of deep indoor navigation.
Figure 2. GPS positioning solution in blue is given with T-PN solution in red for a typical outdoor/indoor environment using Samsung Galaxy S III.
Figure 3 shows a trajectory collected and processed on an S III with GPS signals (including multipath) in blue provided with the T-PN solution in red. During the navigation, the user was making a phone call with the phone on the ear. The maximum error stayed within 17 meters for 5 minutes of indoor navigation with severe multipath in GPS signals. It has to be noted that the heading solution would have converged better if the user walked outdoor for an adequate time, but here the user went straight indoors a few seconds after starting.
Figure 3. GPS positioning solution in blue is given with T-PN solution in red for a typical indoor environment with multipathed GPS signals using T-PN on a Samsung Galaxy S III.
The trajectory in Figure 4 was collected and processed on a Samsung Galaxy Note. The user was holding the Note in texting portrait mode in Shanghai’s downtown core. When the user entered the building, GPS positioning information became unavailable, and the only positioning information available was from T-PN (as shown by the red line in Figure 4). The maximum error after approximately 2 minutes of indoor trajectory was less than 6m.
Figure 4. Trajectory collected and processed on a Samsung Galaxy Note in downtown Shanghai China. Red line is the T-PN solution while the blue is GPS solution.
Figure 5 shows a pure indoor trajectory without GPS, collected and processed on a Samsung Galaxy Nexus. The user walked in a loop for 4 minutes and then returned back to the same location. The maximum error stayed within 13 meters, even with the phone changing orientation with respect to the user. This trajectory was collected at Computex 2012 conference in Taipei.
Figure 5. Pure indoor trajectory collected and processed on a Samsung Galaxy Nexus phone with different user orientation of the phone.
Tracking Applications. Another usage of T-PN can be related to tracking of personnel such as firefighters. In this case, the tracking device will be attached to the users for a high-accuracy solution. To show the performance, a Samsung Galaxy Nexus was tethered to the user in a chest mount strap. The user took a trajectory that started outdoors and then went indoors for over 9 minutes, covering multiple floors and taking elevators and stairs to access the different floors. At the end of the trajectory, the error was less than 6 meters, or 1.5 percent of the distance traveled. Figure 6 shows the results, with the red line showing the T-PN solution and the blue line showing the GPS solution.
Figure 6. Samsung Galaxy Nexus running T-PN in real time for tracking application.
Figure 7 shows the result of the tethered chest-mount system that was connected wirelessly with a vehicle’s OBDII while inside that vehicle. The vehicle entered an underground parkade with no GPS availability and completed two full loops inside the parkade before exiting.
Figure 7. Samsung Galaxy S III running T-PN in real time for tracking application of the personnel inside a vehicle with OBDII.
Consumer Vehicle Navigation. The results of using the T-PN platform on a Blackberry Playbook in real time in the downtown Toronto Eaton Centre parkade appear in Figure 8. The Playbook was left untethered on a seat during the navigation. The T-PN was able to bridge the complete loss of GPS signals (blue line) in the multi-level parkade, and to effectively filter the multipath in the GPS signals in the Toronto downtown core.
Figure 8. T-PN platform running on a Blackberry Playbook in red is provided against the GPS solution in blue.
The next set of results are for a changing misalignment case within the trajectory. In this case, T-PN was running on a Samsung Galaxy S III and evaluated in Calgary’s downtown core. The GPS signals were erroneous due to multipath (as shown by the blue lines in Figure 9), while the T-PN solution was able to provide a proper trajectory, including an almost perfect figure-eight.
For the final sets of results, a Samsung Galaxy S III was placed (untethered) on a seat in a vehicle with a wireless connection to the vehicle’s OBDII. Despite the misalignment, the T-PN showed the three loops in the parkade almost perfectly, as shown in Figure 10.
Figure 9. Downtown Calgary trajectory collected and processed on a Samsung Galaxy S III with changing misalignments in a gooseneck cradle. T-PN solution is in red and the GPS is provided in blue.Figure 10. Underground parkade trajectory with wireless OBDII connection on a Samsung Galaxy S III running T-PN software. T-PN solution is in red and the GPS is provided in blue.
Conclusion
Today, mobile phones are used as navigation devices. GPS often fails to provide an accurate positioning solution in urban canyons and deep indoor environments because GPS is either not available in these environments or will provide erroneous positions because of multipath.
The T-PN provides accurate positioning everywhere by converting the pre-existing inertial sensors of mobile devices (such as tablets and smartphones) into navigators. The results were provided for walking and driving cases where GPS positioning information was unreliable or unavailable. In all these cases, the T-PN solution was able to successfully provide enhanced navigation solution of the user.
Acknowledgment
This article is based on a paper first presented at ION GNSS 2012, September 2012, Nashville, Tennessee.
Zainab Syed is a co-founder/VP engineering at Trusted Positioning Inc. She obtained her Ph.D. from the University of Calgary. She has 6 patents pending and more than 50 publications on integrated navigation systems.
Jacques Georgy is the VP of R&D and a co-founder of Trusted Positioning Inc. He received his Ph.D. in electrical and computer engineering from Queen’s University, Canada. He has 10 filed patents, written a book, and more than 40 papers.
Abdelrahman Ali is an algorithms designer at Trusted Positioning Inc. He is also a member of the Mobile Multi-Sensor Systems Research Group at the Department of Geomatics Engineering in University of Calgary where he is completing his Ph.D.
Hsiu-Wen Chang is an algorithms designer at Trusted Positioning Inc. She is also a member of the Mobile Multi-Sensor Systems Research Group at the Department of Geomatics Engineering in University of Calgary where she is completing her Ph.D.
Chris Goodall is the CEO/co-founder of Trusted Positioning Inc. Chris has been working in developing, deploying, and evangelizing multi-sensor navigation systems for more than 8 years. He has more than 40 publications and seven patent applications.
But Google and Facebook Signal Their Intent to Capture Users’ Location
The biggest international mobile-phone show ever, Mobile World Congress 2013, took place early this month in Barcelona, Spain. It came at an interesting time. Attendees learned it no longer makes sense to think about which device, or screen, is of primary importance to users. Google reports findings that 90 percent of users move sequentially between several screens — TV, phone, desktop computer and tablet — to accomplish tasks.
Google, wanting to more fully exploit ad opportunities across all devices, has revamped its AdWords program to be one platform that advertisers will use to control ads on all types of devices. In the past, advertisers could choose to advertise on desktops and no other devices. The new rule requires mobile advertising. Although it is an integrated platform, advertisers can use parameters like the device’s location or type to send specially crafted messaging.
The GPS-based fitness watch market looks like it is on a steep curve upwards, and feasible smartphone GPS watches are available.
Rumor says Facebook is going to start tracking users’ locations at all times, to be able to cull more ad revenue from individuals’ preferences and geo life.
Finally, and most importantly in the long run for all location-enabled users, the Federal Trade Commission took a stand on location privacy.
Google Requires Mobile Advertising. Citing concerns that the shift from desktop to smartphones and tablets is damaging its bottom line, Google is revamping its AdWords advertising platform to integrate ad campaigns across all device screens. In fact, Google indicated that it will require all advertisers to pay for mobile ads even if they only wish to reach consumers on desktops. The revamp will allow customers to use contextual factors like location, time of day and device type to control integrated campaigns.
Google provides an example of how a user’s location and device type could change the advertising message. “For example, a pizza restaurant probably wants to show one ad to someone searching for ‘pizza’ at 1pm on their PC at work (perhaps a link to an online order form or menu), and a different ad to someone searching for ‘pizza’ at 8pm on a smartphone a half-mile from the restaurant (perhaps a click-to-call phone number and restaurant locator),” reads Google’s blog.
Will Apple Grab Your Wrist? Rumors continue that Apple will release a GPS-based fitness watch in 2013. Whether Apple enters the market or not, the GPS fitness market is huge and growing. The GPS fitness watch market is set to reach $1.07 billion in 2013, predicts ABI Research. Cellular-connected GPS fitness watches like the I’m Watch may further speed this market.
“There have already been unfounded rumors around Apple in 2013, so let’s wait and see. If an Apple watch did feature integrated GPS, it would no doubt significantly boost shipment forecasts in 2013,” asserts Dominique Bonte of ABI. Some start-ups in the GPS Watch category have joined the action including Leikr, Pebble, Basis and others.
Facebook Is Watching. Is it possible for the relationship between Facebook and Google to get tenser? According to a Bloomberg article, Facebook is developing a smartphone application that will track the location of its users. The app is said to be scheduled for release by mid-March, and would run on handsets in the background, even when the Facebook app or the phone isn’t open or in use.
The location data would help Facebook capture more advertising revenue as ads can be more targeted with information about a user’s location and habits. The project is said to be headed by an ex-Googler and talent from Glancee and Gowalla, both of whom were purchased by Google.
Location privacy Is Covered. Privacy concerns with Facebook location tracking would undoubtedly be raised. Currently Facebook records the GPS coordinates of users when they post status updates or photos from their phones, or check into a venue. Tracking users 24/7 is another thing. Facebook’s current location sharing policy seems to cover them carte blanche. It allows the use of data “to serve you ads that might be more relevant,” and “to tell you and your friends about people or events nearby, or offer deals to you that you might be interested in.”
Also-Rans. Will Windows and BlackBerry smartphones succeed? Will there be a crack, even a tiny one, in the duopoly of iOS and Android? The biggest worry for Microsoft and BlackBerry is if initial sales of their smartphones are too small to excite developer interest. Without abundant applications, consumers won’t continue to buy these phones. ABI Research is predicting that the demand will be strong enough and is forecasting a BlackBerry installed base of 20 million and Windows smartphone base of 45 million by year end.
Location Standards for Next Generation LBS. The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) held a free session and reception at the Mobile World Congress for mobile developers, location data providers, network operators and LBS service users. Attendees learned the latest in open standards development.
Path Social Network Charged on Privacy Infringement. The operator of the Path social networking app has agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission (FTC) charges that it deceived users by collecting personal information from their mobile device address books without their knowledge and consent. The settlement requires Path, Inc. to establish a comprehensive privacy program and to obtain independent privacy assessments every other year for the next 20 years. The company also will pay $800,000 to settle charges that it illegally collected personal information from children without their parents’ consent.
The settlement with Path is part of the FTC’s ongoing effort to make sure companies live up to the privacy promises they make to consumers, and that kids’ personal information isn’t collected or shared online without their parents’ consent.
“Over the years the FTC has been vigilant in responding to a long list of threats to consumer privacy, whether it is mortgage applications thrown into open trash dumpsters, kids information culled by music fan websites, or unencrypted credit card information left vulnerable to hackers,” said FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz. “This settlement with Path shows that no matter what new technologies emerge, the agency will continue to safeguard the privacy of Americans.”
Path operates a social networking service that allows users to keep journals about “moments” in their life and to share that journal with a network of up to 150 friends. Through the Path app, users can upload, store, and share photos, written “thoughts,” the user’s location, and the names of songs to which the user is listening.
In its complaint, the FTC charged that the user interface in Path’s iOS app was misleading and provided consumers no meaningful choice regarding the collection of their personal information. In version 2.0 of its app for iOS, Path offered an “Add Friends” feature to help users add new connections to their networks. The feature provided users with three options: “Find friends from your contacts;” “Find friends from Facebook;” or “Invite friends to join Path by email or SMS.”
However, Path automatically collected and stored personal information from the user’s mobile device address book even if the user had not selected the “Find friends from your contacts” option. For each contact in the user’s mobile device address book, Path automatically collected and stored any available first and last names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, Facebook and Twitter usernames, and dates of birth.
The FTC alleged that Path’s privacy policy deceived consumers by claiming that it automatically collected only certain user information such as IP address, operating system, browser type, address of referring site, and site activity information. In fact, version 2.0 of the Path app for iOS automatically collected and stored personal information from the user’s mobile device address book when the user first launched version 2.0 of the app and each time the user signed back into the account.
The agency also charged that Path, which collects birth date information during user registration, violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) Rule by collecting personal information from approximately 3,000 children under the age of 13 without first getting parents’ consent. Through its apps for both iOS and Android, as well as its website, Path enabled children to create personal journals and upload, store and share photos, written “thoughts,” their precise location, and the names of songs to which the child was listening. Path version 2.0 also collected personal information from a child’s address book, including full names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, dates of birth and other information, where available.
The COPPA Rule requires that operators of online sites or services directed to children, or operators that have actual knowledge of child users on their sites or services, notify parents and obtain their consent before they collect, use, or disclose personal information from children under 13. Operators covered by the Rule also have to post a privacy policy that is clear, understandable, and complete.
The FTC charged that Path violated the COPPA Rule by:
not spelling out its collection, use and disclosure policy for children’s personal information;
not providing parents with direct notice of its collection, use and disclosure policy for children’s personal information; and
not obtaining verifiable parental consent before collecting children’s personal information.
In addition to the $800,000 civil penalty, Path is prohibited from making any misrepresentations about the extent to which it maintains the privacy and confidentiality of consumers’ personal information. The proposed settlement also requires Path to delete information collected from children under age 13 and bars future violations of COPPA. Path has already deleted the address book information that it collected during the time period its deceptive practices were in place.
The FTC also introduces “Mobile App Developers: Start with Security,” a new business guide that encourages developers to aim for reasonable data security, evaluate the app ecosystem before development, and includes tips such as making someone responsible for data security and taking stock of the data collected and maintained.
The commission vote to authorize the staff to refer the complaint to the Department of Justice and to approve the proposed consent decree was 5-0. The DOJ filed the complaint on behalf of the Commission in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on January 31, 2013. The proposed consent decree will be filed with the same U.S. District Court today and is subject to court approval.
Janice Partyka is contributing editor for wireless at GPS World. Subscribe free to her monthly e-newsletter, Wireless Pulse, at www.gpsworldcom/subscribe.
We’re going through!” The Captain’s voice was like thin slate breaking. He wore combat fatigues with a dusty beret.
“We can’t make it, sir. They’re laying down fire too heavy, if you ask me.”
“I’m not asking you, lieutenant,” said the Captain. “Go to overdrive!”
The throb of the diesel Stryker increased: cha-rugga-rugga-rugga. He surveyed the rocky defile ahead. “Throw back the shield!” he shouted. “Swing out the M240!”
The crew, bending to tasks in the rocking transport, grinned. “The Old Man’ll bring us through,” they said. “The Old Man ain’t afraid of hell!” . . .
“Get a free muffin with your next mocha latte!” Waldorf Twitty’s phone on the passenger seat squawked.
“Hmm?” said Twitty. He regarded the smartphone in mild astonishment. “You’re within 15 meters of Studbricks. Bring your e-coupon now!” Waldorf Twitty drove on in silence, the fire of the worst ambush in years of guerilla warfare fading in the airways of his mind. “Recalculating!” yapped the phone urgently. “Head for Studbricks!”
Waldorf Twitty proceeded to a parking lot at town’s edge. He hefted his laptop, pocketed his phone, and crossed the green expanse of industrial campus toward a distant office block, passing a clinic that ministered to employees.
. . . “It’s the billionaire investor, Boren Wellfleet,” said the pretty nurse.
Waldorf Twitty put down his external hard drive, repository of his own medical research. “Who has the case?”
“Dr. Debakow, and a specialist, Dr. Farnyard, has flown in.”
A door opened and Farnyard emerged, distraught. “It looks bad for Wellfleet. Obstreosis of the ductal tract. Tertiary. Wish you’d take a look.”
“Glad to,” said Twitty.
In the operating room Dr. Debakow whispered, “I’ve read your blog on streptothricosis — brilliant.” At this moment a machine with many displays began to go rugga-rugga-rugga.
“The new anaesthetizer is giving way!” cried an intern. “No one knows how to fix it!”
Twitty glided to the machine, now going rugga-rugga-queep-rugga-rugga-queep. “Give me a USB drive!” he snapped. He inserted the device in his own hard drive, then into a port on the trembling, moaning anaesthetizer. “That will hold for ten minutes,” he said. “Get on with the operation.”
“Coreopsis has set in,” said Farnyard nervously. “Would you take over, Twitty?”
“If you wish.” . . .
“I see you! You’re in the geofence!” his boss’s voice barked. Waldorf Twitty halted and looked around; people passed tranquilly to and fro. “I’m tracking your phone now — why aren’t you here yet? Where’s the Veeblefreetzer design!?! Why weren’t you in at 6 this morning?”
Twitty groaned. He had never figured out how to disable the location transmit function on his phone. Every app he downloaded — and he had many — claimed location-sharing could be turned off, but they buried the settings so deep. He turned back to the parking lot. He would call in sick. Or something.
. . .The dark-haired beauty took his hand. “You’ll lead us out of here?” she quavered. He nodded grimly. . .
“Say, bud, looks like you’re under-insured!” a friendly voice boomed from his pocket. “Bill Lacky with Consolidated Coverage, friend of your friend’s friend on Facebook, and a 3rd removed on LinkedIn. I’m just a few blocks away. I bet I can get an introduction from someone by the time I’m there. Heading your way!”
At a corner he leaned against a wall in the shade. “This is the police, Mr. Twitty. We are authorized to make an employer’s arrest. Hold your phone and stand perfectly still. An officer has your coordinates and will arrive shortly.”
. . . He put his shoulders back and his heels together. “To hell with the blindfold,” said Waldorf Twitty. Then, with that faint, fleeting smile on his lips, he faced the firing squad: erect, motionless, proud and disdainful. Waldorf Twitty, inscrutable to the last.
The biggest mobile show, the Mobile World Congress, starts next week in Barcelona, Spain. It comes at an interesting time. Attendees will find it no longer makes sense to think about which device, or screen, is of primary importance to users. Google reports findings that 90 percent of users move sequentially between several screens (TV, phone, desktop computer and tablet) to accomplish tasks.
Google, wanting to more fully exploit ad opportunities on all devices, has revamped AdWords to require that all ad campaigns include mobile. The GPS-based fitness watch market looks like it is on a steep curve upward, and feasible smartphone GPS watches are available. Rumor says Facebook is going to start tracking users’ locations at all times to be able to cull more ad revenue from individual’s preferences and geo life.
Analytics firm Flurry tracked mobile app usage during the Super Bowl and found that overall app usage declined by less than 5 percent during the Super Bowl, compared to same time period on the prior Sunday. A large amount of consumers’ attention was spent in apps, even as they sat in front of their TVs on the biggest football day of the year. Surprisingly, app usage did not greatly differ between commercials and game play. Mobile app usage peaked during the game’s power outage and declined during Beyonce’s apparently riveting half-time show.
Google Requires Mobile Advertising. Citing concerns that the shift from desktop to smartphones and tablets is damaging its bottom line, Google is revamping its AdWords advertising platform to integrate ad campaigns across all device screens. In fact, Google indicated that it will require all advertisers to pay for mobile ads even if they only wish to reach consumers on desktops. The revamp will allow customers to use contextual factors like location, time of day and device type to control integrated campaigns.
Google provides an example of how a user’s location and device type could change the advertising message. “For example, a pizza restaurant probably wants to show one ad to someone searching for ‘pizza’ at 1 p.m. on their PC at work (perhaps a link to an online order form or menu), and a different ad to someone searching for ‘pizza’ at 8 p.m. on a smartphone a half-mile from the restaurant (perhaps a click-to-call phone number and restaurant locator),” reads Google’s blog.
Will Apple Take Control of Your Wrist? Rumors continue that Apple will release a GPS-based fitness watch in 2013. Whether Apple enters the market or not, the GPS fitness market is huge and growing. The GPS fitness watch market is set to reach $1.07 billion in 2013, predicts ABI Research. Cellular connected GPS fitness watches like the I’m Watch may further speed this market. “There have already been unfounded rumors around Apple in 2013, so let’s wait and see. If an Apple watch did feature integrated GPS, it would no doubt significantly boost shipment forecasts in 2013,” asserts Dominique Bonte of ABI. Some start-ups in the GPS watch category have joined the action including Leikr, Pebble, Basis and others.
Facebook Is Watching. Is it possible that the relationship between Facebook and Google can get even more tense? According to a Bloomberg article, Facebook is developing a smartphone application that will track the location of its users. The app is said to be scheduled for release by mid-March, and would run on handsets in the background even when the Facebook app or the phone isn’t open or in use. The location data would help Facebook capture more advertising revenue as ads can be more targeted with information about a user’s location and habits. The project is said to be headed by an ex-Googler and talent from Glancee and Gowalla, both of whom were purchased by Google.
Privacy concerns with Facebook location tracking will undoubtedly be raised. Currently, Facebook records the GPS coordinates of users when they post status updates or photos from their phones, or check into a venue. Tracking users 24/7 is another thing. Facebook’s current location-sharing policy seems to cover them carte blanche. It allows the use of data “to serve you ads that might be more relevant,” and “to tell you and your friends about people or events nearby, or offer deals to you that you might be interested in.”
Will Windows and BlackBerry Smartphones Succeed? Will there be a crack, even a tiny one, in the duopoly of iOS and Android? The biggest worry for Microsoft and BlackBerry is if initial sales of their smartphones are too small to excite developer interest. Without abundant applications, consumers won’t continue to buy these phones. ABI Research is predicting that the demand will be strong enough, and is forecasting a BlackBerry installed base of 20 million and Windows smartphone base of 45 million by year-end.
Open Geospatial Consortium Location Standards for Next-Generation LBS. The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) is having a free session and reception at the Mobile World Congress for mobile developers, location data providers, network operators and LBS service users. Attendees will learn the latest in open standards development. The event is being held on February 27, 2013 in Barcelona. Register for free.
According to a new research report by Berg Insight, mobile location-based service (LBS) revenues in Europe are forecast to grow from €325 million in 2012 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 20.5 percent to reach €825 million in 2017.
The North American LBS market is forecast to grow at a CAGR of 9.2 percent from US $835 million in 2012 to reach US $1,295 million in 2017. Berg Insight estimates that 40 percent of all mobile subscribers in Europe use some kind of location-enhanced application on a regular basis. In North America, the larger installed base of GPS-enabled handsets and smartphones has enabled higher uptake of LBS.
Berg Insight estimates that about 50 percent of all mobile subscribers in the region now access LBS at least monthly. Local search, social networking and navigation services are the top application categories in terms of number of active users. Mobile workforce management services that aim to improve operational efficiency for businesses are also gaining traction in new industry segments.
“Smartphones are the most important enabler for LBS adoption in general. The installed base of smartphones in Europe has now reached 45 percent of total handsets and already surpassed 55 percent in North America,” said André Malm, Senior Analyst, Berg Insight. He adds that besides differences in smartphone adoption, there are other regional differences. “Mobile operators still play a more central role in North America than in Europe, marketing branded services to both consumer and enterprise customers.”
However, the operators’ central role in the LBS ecosystem is now being challenged by the smartphone ecosystems that bundle key LBS and give developers access to location data and distribution channels in the form of on-device app stores. Mobile operators are therefore showing renewed interest in offering network-based bulk location data for advertising and analytics, as well as new services such as secure authentication and fraud management.
Looking back at 2012, and this is our last column of the year, a number of stories in the location industry spring to the front. The rise of indoor positioning as a potential lucrative market is one. Another is perhaps Samsung’s purchase of CSR to give a major consumer electronics manufacturer even more location capability. Or the continued story of Google as the 800-pound gorilla in the location room. But, resoundingly, the top story probably has to be the controversy surrounding Apple Maps, which caused a shake-up at the company and industry. The incident made manufacturers realize that digital maps are a very important feature for smartphones. It also made many of these giant companies, who believe that location isn’t that big of a deal, sober up to the fact it is hard to make quality maps.
The top location industry story of 2012 may be a cautionary one for the industry. The big story was the release of Apple Maps in September, which was criticized by consumers for inaccurate driving directions, among other problems.
Apple had replaced Google Maps on its iPhone 5. But the criticism for the phone’s maps forced Apple CEO Tim Cook to apologize and even tell consumers to use such competitor’s maps as Waze, MapQuest or Microsoft’s Bing.
The controversy plagued Apple Maps app.
Since the last LBS Insider column, Apple fired Richard Williamson, who oversaw the company’s Maps team, according to Bloomberg. The initial report indicated that Eddy Cue, Apple senior vice president, is looking for a new management team to replace Williamson. The company is putting pressure on Apple partner TomTom to update mapping data and consulting with third-party mapping experts.
Marc Prioleau, managing director of Prioleau Advisors, said there are two basically two key points surrounding Apple Maps: “Maps are really hard to do. Maps were deemed to be an important asset for a major platform to own versus rent from Google.”
So what does that mean for Facebook, Amazon, Twitter and others dabbling in the location industry? “Can they get [quality] by using a potential competitors maps/local search or do they have to build their own? And if they build their own, how do they avoid the problems Apple has had?” Prioleau said.
The Apple Maps fiasco proved how important maps and navigation are to users of mobile phones, said Mike Dobson, TeleMapics president and author of an industry blog, which received huge readership during the incident. “In doing so, the company generated more ill will than I thought was possible when dealing with maps and navigation,” he said.
Industry Expert Looks Back on 2012
There were two significant trends in LBS in 2012, Dobson said. “The first was that the industry has transformed from a domain of specialists who seemed to be working underground to an industry that has caught the world’s eye as one of the most important technology families now in existence. It is a rare year when The Economist magazine writes an analysis that is focused on location as it did in its 2012 Technology and Geography Special Report,” he said.
Economist’s Annual Innovation Awards were dominated by people in the location industry, Dobson said. Computing and Telecommunications awards went to Jack Dangermond (ESRI) and John Hanke (Google), while Gary Burrell and Min Kao (both from Garmin) won awards for Consumer Products, he said.
“The second biggest trend in 2012 was the inexorable rise of Google to the top of the location chain. While Google quietly improved its databases, tools and location services, most other players in the location industry were slipping further behind, apparently involved in a frenzy of disorganization prompted by a lack of skills in strategic planning,” Dobson said. “What this torpor has led to is an apparent inability to produce market-leading products, as Apple has shown with Apple Maps and Nokia has shown with its negatively received mapping service. I suppose the rumor that the company is considering renaming the service ‘Here?’ is untrue.”
Through hard work related to early disappointments with the accuracy of its mapping products, Google has managed to learn a number of important lessons related to map compilation and data quality, Dobson said. “Perhaps the greatest lesson it had to learn was that algorithms used in mapping and navigation often need the intervention of an operator who understands geography, mapping and navigation. In addition, map compilation systems often need the assistance of a human with local knowledge to prioritize data solutions. Put simply, Google has confronted map accuracy issues and is rounding the curve on improved product quality.” To most everyone else, the main exception being ESRI, Dobson said he awards a hearty “shame on you.”
A final 2012 trend is that numerous capable leaders who led the “Location Revolution” are now on the sidelines or out of the industry completely, Dobson said. “For example, the majority of the ‘brain trust’ from Navteq, those contributors who understood the nature of mapping and navigation, are no longer with Nokia, a company that appears rudderless in the location marketplace. Just as it shows that most of the people who understood mapping and navigation at Tele Atlas are no longer with TomTom,” he said. “Other acquisitions produced similar results, as they always do. However, the crucial issue here is that losing history often means losing perspective and I am concerned that LBS is on this destructive path. While we always would like to think that as an industry we have institutionalized or memorialized personal contributions, problem-solving methods and other individually oriented contribution to products, this is never really true.
“While each new management team should have the right to rearrange the pebbles on the beach and say that the new organization of pebbles solves the problems of the previous organization, this is rarely the case. Innovation, not reorganization, are what makes a difference in all industry segments. As 2012 closes, I am tempted to ask, “Where are these market-making innovations in LBS?”
2013 and Beyond
While it was a big part of the LBS landscape in 2012, Dobson believes the current emphasis on indoor location is both overblown and being overhyped, but it will remain the focus of the industry in 2013. “This is yet another example of smaller players in the location world trying to find something new that they feel might help to get them acquired, while the larger players are hoping it is something that might provide a sustainable competitive advantage over Google,” he said. “I suspect that Nokia and Apple might now know what Microsoft knows — that in order to catch Google in location, you need to have a search engine that can successfully perform local queries that is tied to a source of revenue such as mobile advertising. My belief is that Google will continue forward integrating location as part of its effort to dominate advertising globally and locally. Until the other players catch on to this differentiator and field a powerful advertising-based competitor, they cannot be considered in the same league as Google.”
As a final shot, Dobson said he brought a lump of coal for those who enjoy “free” maps and navigation services. “My belief is that within the next decade mapping and navigation services will be fee-based. The addition of all the bells and whistles to online mapping services, in addition to other negative factors, are making the game too expensive to continue to give the product away for free,” he said. “Consider this bit of history. In the United States, before the Arab oil embargo of the 1970s, paper maps were given away free at gas stations. Also forgotten by many is the fact that someone pumped the gas, cleaned the car’s windows, checked the engine oil level and inflated tires to their proper pressure.
“After the oil embargo, price increases helped to beat the profit out of the system, as well as all of the other services it once offered such as free maps. Issues of net neutrality, telecom’s desire to recover infrastructure costs related to providing Internet services, indoor location infrastructure, and the decline of competition in the world of map and navigation data will inexorably lead to maps and navigation services that we will be required to pay for with real money, at least if we want the premium blend with all the bells and whistles.”
2013 Will Be a Big Year for Indoor Positioning
Because “outdoor” map solutions may be done because solutions only tell consumers how to get from Point A to Point B, indoor positioning is the future for LBS, said Kris Kolodziej, aisle411 vice president of location services. “Google already has about 10,000 maps worldwide. Aisle411 has 10,000 in the United States alone. It shows that retailers/indoor venues are using LBS and maps to engage the consumers and fight off the likes of Amazon,” he said. “Finding things indoors, inside stores and malls like products and offers. Retailers will need to get even more engaged and relevant if they want the consumer to shop at their store versus Amazon.”
Indoor positioning will be the big deal in 2013, said Mike Flom, LBS/Wireless App Consulting managing director. “Given its incorporation by major OS/smartphone manufacturers in their maps products and at least some progress on indoor location precision and quality, the usage growth and indoor map quality and coverage improvements should be exponential by year end,” he said. “A runner up to indoor positioning is built-in rich wireless maps and navigation for automobiles. There’s probably a higher expectation from consumers due to smartphones than delivery by automakers, but since when has the auto industry operated at consumer electronics speed?”
Smartphone Market Still Going to Drive LBS
The biggest trend of 2012 was the adoption of wireless GPS maps and navigation as a standard and differentiated feature on smartphone operating systems, said Flom, who believes that Apple’s introduction of their own free maps and navigation on iOS was the biggest event of 2012, along with Microsoft’s use of Bing Maps/Nokia Maps on Windows Phone 8.
“Why is this important? Approximately 85 percent to 90 percent of the U.S. smartphone OS market now has access to exceptionally rich, free wireless voice navigation. Penetration is similar in developed and growing fast in many developing countries,” Flom said. “The enormous penetration of smartphones means wireless voice navigation has gone from a crude novelty in 2002 to a sophisticated service with widespread penetration in under 10 years. The implication is all tablets, an extraordinarily fast growing product, now has rich, location-based map support. While only a small percentage currently have precision location functionality, such as a GPS chip or bluetooth GPS receiver, this is destined to change over time. Now that the basics are in place, more sophisticated features and content have a huge path to an enormous market,” Flom said.
Flom does not believe that the industry has been overhyped. “Given the extraordinary expense Google, Apple and Microsoft have gone to generate their own maps and voice navigation features, and the high rates of adoption, the hype was if anything too low. Each OS manufacturer could have simply let third parties continue to offer an app in their store,” he said. “The decision not to give third parties including Google the traffic indicates the importance of location and maps. The Apple Maps quality debacle, which eclipsed almost every controversy in the smartphone world, including patent wars and Siri limitations, showed that great maps are difficult and expensive. Apple’s adoption of their own map product cemented Google’s introduction of wireless GPS navigation as an essential and differentiated standard feature of smartphones.”
Mobile Advertising Still Looking for Market Share
Mobile advertising still is searching for a successful business formula, Prioleau said. “Every year it gets better but there is no sense that that has been cracked, at least if you look at advertising spend on mobile. The mismatch between time spent on mobile and ad spend on mobile has been well documented, but the gap isn’t closing fast,” he said.
In terms of location context, many companies don’t get it, but some do, Prioleau said. “It’s not just about where you are, and what’s nearby, but what does your location tell you about why you’re there, what you’re doing, and what or who you might be interested in,” he said. “Many companies are working on using location, along with other signals, to define context and from that pushing interesting information to the user — Highlight, PlaceIQ, Niantic, etc. It is early and it isn’t clear that anyone has got it right, but this will be an area of evolution going forward.”
In other LBS news:
Sprint Nextel rolled out its in-vehicle platform, Velocity, which allows auto manufacturers to offer buyers navigation, security, remote diagnostics, emergency services and infotainment. The unit, which was rolled out at the 2012 Los Angeles Auto Show, will be available worldwide to allow network providers to add connectivity, the company said. Sprint has been getting into the auto arena in a big way this year with its partnership with Chrysler Group’s Uconnect voice-activated vehicle communications system.
Mobile application storefronts had collectively distributed a cumulative total of 81 billion smartphone and tablet apps as of the end of September 2012, according to a recent market study from ABI Research. Of these, 89 percent were downloaded from native storefronts that come with the device’s operating system.
“The current status quo is based on storefronts that the operating system vendors provide as part of the OS experience, and there is no evidence that this would change in the future,” said ABI Research senior analyst Aapo Markkanen. “A year ago it still looked like that, for example, mobile operators could find a viable business case in the curation of Android apps, but that opportunity evaporated once Google got its storefront act together. Today, it makes sense for operators to distribute apps only under special circumstances, such as the ones that we’re seeing in China.”
Similarly, it’s unlikely that the universal, catch-all nature of app distribution would start breaking up into smaller niche storefronts. There is a certain demand for specialist stores, but even then the niche players should position themselves as recommendation channels driving traffic to native storefronts and not actual distributors. Markkanen explains, “Running a user-friendly app distribution channel is expensive. Besides the adequate hosting and billing systems it takes quite a lot of human labor, since successful app discovery requires some form of editorial approach. The opportunity for smaller storefronts built around selected categories is therefore limited.”
Practically the only exceptions are B2B apps and the consumer categories that the universal storefronts don’t want to be associated with — most notably adult content. Mikandi is a real-life storefront example that has built a business out of the distribution of such outcast apps and content.
These findings are from ABI Research’s Mobile Application Markets Research Service which focuses on the distribution and the economics of mobile apps, providing data-driven insights on areas such as download volumes, revenues and business models, plus trends within different applications categories.
SINA Corporation, an online media company serving China and the global Chinese communities, and AutoNavi Holdings Limited, provider of digital map content and navigation and location-based solutions in China, have jointly announced a strategic partnership to integrate and enhance each other’s social, location and mobile offerings.
As a result of this partnership, AMAP, AutoNavi’s mobile map application, users will be able to sign on using Weibo Connect and access content directly from SINA Weibo. SINA Weibo users will also have access to the content and functionality of AMAP. The companies expect such content and product integration will enhance the social networking and navigational aspects of each other’s mobile offerings.
“Over 70% of SINA Weibo users access the social media platform at least partially via mobile devices,” said Gaofei Wang, vice president and general manager of SINA Mobile. “LBS (location-based services) and mapping services will play a key role in Weibo’s mobile strategy, and we are excited to be partnering with AutoNavi to leverage their expertise in these areas.”
“In teaming up with Sina, we are proud to provide our mapping and location-based services to more than 400 million Sina Weibo users, while at the same time integrating Sina Weibo’s social content and SNS features into AMAP,” said Congwu Cheng, chief executive officer of AutoNavi. “We believe our collaboration with Sina Weibo will benefit both of our users and we look forward to future cooperation between our two companies as we continue to bring new features and functionalities to our users.”
A new China Navigation Map Industry Report, 2012-2014, released by Sino Market Insight, predicts that the revenue of Chinese navigation electronic map industry will reach RMB 2.1 billion in 2014.
Started in 2002, the navigation industry in China is still in the initial stage of development compared with the international market, the report says. China’s car navigation market, PND navigation market and mobile phone navigation market are in the stage of rapid development, while the markets of LBS service, real-time traffic information service and value-added electronic map application services based on mobile communication technology are still in the initial stage of development.
From 2006 to 2011, the sales volume of car navigation in China maintained high-speed growth, with CAGR hitting 47.5%. However, the penetration rate of car navigation is still low, so China’s car navigation market still embraces huge space. Meanwhile, the growth speed of GPS mobile phone market in China is amazing, the report says. The sales volume of GPS mobile phone in China approximated 100 thousand sets in 2006, and skyrocketed to more than 50 million sets in 2011. Mobile Internet is an important development direction for the navigation map industry in future.
According to the report, the global electronic navigation map market presents distinct regional and local characteristics. Major navigation application markets around the world, such as USA, Europe, Japan and South Korea, all have many regional electronic map suppliers which have competitive advantages in diversified segments and possess stable client groups.
The navigation map market in China is led by AutoNavi and NavInfo. In particular, NavInfo is the pioneer, for it got approved to do navigation map business in the early 21st century. Joining the competition after 2006, AutoNavi captured the high-end brand automobile market quickly by virtue of advanced technologies, and penetrated into the medium-end automobile market thereafter. After 2010, the two companies launched fierce competition in the emerging mobile phone navigation market. In future, the competition in China’s car navigation and mobile phone navigation market will be fiercer, and the collision among navigation map enterprises in different sectors will be more frequent.
China Navigation Map Industry Report, 2012-2014 covers the following contents:
Current status of China navigation map industry;
Development of China navigation map market;
Market status of navigation map in major regions worldwide;
Brief introduction, financial highlight, revenue structure by segment and by region, prospects and performance prediction, clients, etc. of 15 leading navigation map enterprises in China and around the globe.
The technology uses low-power, low-cost sensors and the device concept is small enough to clip on a belt. It also doesn’t need any existing internal infrastructure.
The new technology platform can be embedded in an existing design or operate as a stand-alone unit, with options to compute the location locally or transmit the information to a remote system that can process the data before visualizing it on a smartphone app.
