Google's focus on contextual apps

Almost a month ago I wrote an article about Apple's acquisition of WiFiSLAM, claiming that Apple's focus was "about apps, not maps." My point was that an increasing number of apps, even without ever showing maps on the screen, need to know the current location in order to carry out their services. Examples include being notified when a friend is nearby, finding items in nearby stores, being notified in an airport if your flight is boarding when you're in the bookstore, and much more.

Three weeks later, Google made exactly the same point, at the Google I/O conference. The technical leads of the Google Location team introduced a class of mobile applications that they called "contextual apps," which carry out tasks based on the user's current situation or activity, which is often based on location.

Throughout Grizzly Analytics in-depth analysis of the indoor location area, we see uses of indoor location positioning that are not for maps but rather for applications to reason about location. Contextual apps that use indoor location are coming soon. It's good to see Google reiterating the point.

Finding indoor location tech, and fans, at MWC 2017

Over 100,000 people are now planning to attend the 2017 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, in February. Many will flock to the newest devices, many to the keynote speeches from market leaders, and many to the latest tech from a huge variety of exhibitors. But how does anyone find all the tech they want to see? Anyone who has been to MWC in the past will tell you that there is no way to be sure you're seeing all that you want to see. Anyone interested in indoor location technology now has a solution. The Grizzly Analytics Guide to Indoor Location Technology at MWC2017 will list all the companies at MWC that are demonstrating, presenting or talking about indoor location tech. (Obviously we may miss one, but since we've reported on indoor location tech from over 200 companies , we expect to be fairly comprehensive.) The guide will be organized by technology type and also by MWC hall number, so you can plan your time accordingly. If you are exhibiting i

The year indoor location will truly take off

For years I've been writing sentences like "this will be the year that indoor location will explode into the market." I, and many others, have been expecting indoor location technology to enable the huge range of location-enabled apps, which currently work only outside where GPS signals are available, to work inside. But until now the promise of indoor location has remained a promise. But if we look at the reasons for this, we'll see that it is about to change. 2017 and 2018 are poised to be the years that the challenges keeping indoor location from going mainstream will be solved. First is accuracy. Most indoor location technologies until a year or so ago had accuracy in the range of 4 to 8 meters. This sounds good in principle, and in fact is better than GPS in many cases. But GPS systems are able to use road details to hide their inaccuracies, so that the blue dot seems to follow your driving car almost perfectly. But indoors, this sort of inaccuracy means y

Indoor Location, GeoFencing and Retail (Updated w/ video)

We've written a lot about indoor location technology , which is bringing location services indoors where GPS doesn't work. And we've written more recently about GeoFencing , a new location technology that enables smartphones to display content or take other actions when entering a specified area. And a few weeks ago we wrote about a company that was bringing the two together . Now Aisle411 has entered the ring, adding GeoFencing to their indoor solution . And they're bringing GeoFencing to life in the retail store industry . Aisle411's solution lets you navigate your way around a store to find specific products on the shelves. You can even enter your whole shopping list, or the items you need for a recipe, and the app will guide you around the store to buy everything you need quickly. And here's where the GeoFencing comes in: As you near certain products, you'll get offers for related products on your smartphone screen. They might be as s

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