Google betas no-GPS location system

Stephen Withers
Thursday, 29 November 2007 01:10

Your IT - Mobility

The convenience of Google Maps for mobile users has been boosted with the beta release of My Location, an add-on that attempts to provide the location of the device even if it lacks GPS capability.

The service works by identifying nearby cell towers and using that to determine the likely position of the device. How does Google turn the tower information into a location? The use of Google Maps for mobile by people with GPS-enabled phones has allowed the company to build a database correlating the two sets of data. Google officials say the information stored is completely anonymous.

Naturally, it is nowhere near as accurate as GPS, which can often provide a location within 10 metres. Google says My Location has an average accuracy of 1000 metres, and the software plots the location with a blue dot plus a light blue circle to indicate the estimated error.

1000 metres sounds inaccurate, but if you think in terms of "you're somewhere around here" and use the estimate as a starting point, it's a lot more convenient than having to type in your position. You typically know where you are, and the object of telling Google Maps is so it can show where you're trying to get to.

"[A]lthough accuracy and coverage may vary, both will improve over time as more and more people use Google Maps for mobile," said Google software engineer Mike Chu.

My Location works with Java, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, and Nokia/Symbian devices. It does not work on the iPhone, but given the collaboration between Apple and Google that is surely just a matter of time.

What's the payoff for Google? Apart from making its services more useful, which should increase user loyalty, it would make it easier to deliver location-targeted ads. How acceptable they would be to users remains to be seen.