Location Services & AVL

Location Services

Location Services are the marriage of content, location and time. Imagine the Internet content we are all accustomed to, delivered on demand with the relevance of our location and the time of day. Accordingly, industry analysts have forecasted that the market for location based services will increase to US $25 Billion by 2005. Presently, Location Services are dividing into four key market segments.
Fleet management – by knowing the location of their trucks, transport companies and/or corporate fleets can reduce costs and have real-time communications in remote areas.
Localized information – regionalized information that is being aggregated to provide the locations of the nearest gas stations, hotels or four-star restaurants, entertainment, shopping etc.
Emergency and Safety Services communications, traffic and navigation information being provided to help service providers to speed response to incidents. Network Management location based billing and efficient network planning for carriers looking to provide opt-in location services to their wireless data subscribers.
As we witness people book flights and check stocks over their wireless devices (handsets, PDA), it is abundantly clear that wireless data services are quickly becoming a daily necessity. However, location services are more than just a mobile Internet as they provide information that is relevant to the exact location of the wireless subscriber.

Automatic vehicle location (AVL) combines both GPS and wireless data networks for the purpose of tracking, monitoring and exchanging information with remote vehicles. Mirroring this demand, the adoption of vehicle-based Location Services in private fleets and by consumers is anticipated to grow this burgeoning industry from US$ 1 Billion to US$ 33 Billion by 2005.