Location-based data needs content management

Location Based Services (aka LBS) are growing and going mainstream. This will come as no surprise to most people that are busy playing with GPS-enabled mobile phones. Even mobile devices without GPS can triangulate your position fairly accurately. GPS just makes it much more accurate and in some ways that much more dangerous.

This is not your father's LBS; today's Location Based Services are very different than what used to pass for location based services. Back then, YOU were the "service"--meaning YOUR brainpower provided the service. The "service" was limited to what you knew and how you were able to apply your skills.

What's changed?

Today, LBS offers a new kind of brain power. A device you can hold in your hand can tell you more than you might ever want to know about the place you are standing.  

Examples include: 

• iPhone based temperature checks: Using the built in GPS to tell you the temperature where you are sitting right now is a location based services application. Usefulness factor? Maybe a 6 out of 10. 
• History and the historical significance: A GPS-enabled device can tell you a lot about the location where you are standing (or where your phone and global calendar know you will be traveling to). Usefulness factor? Maybe an 8 out of 10.
• Extrapolating on the history: Let’s say you are in Washington, D.C. and standing at the Lincoln Memorial. You could retrieve the history of the structure--why it was built, when it was built, etc.--the history of Abraham Lincoln and information about other significant events that took place at the Lincoln Memorial-–perhaps the Martin Luther King Jr. "I Have A Dream" speech. Most newer devices allow for streaming audio and video. The educational aspects of the experience could be incredible or it could induce a sensory overload. 
• Shopping: Your favorite book store may have an author signing while you are nearby, or an antique store in the area you are traveling will be able to alert you when a specific item is in stock. Usefulness factor? It depends; it could be a 10 out of 10.
• Dining: Perhaps you like a specific type of food or a particular chef. Your device can help you find them and alert you (and the restaurant too) in order to make a reservation. Usefulness factor? Another potential 10 out of 10.

The key point

A Location Based Service can check your calendar, confirm with your GPS, and alert you to what's happening near you. It doesn't need to be real-time either. If you allow it, everything can be automated for you, even when you travel or are out running errands. I say "if you allow it" because the next generation of LBS applications will provide a lot more flexibility for opt-in and for rules-based check-ins based on the profile set by the user.

Another way to look at it is, as Thomas Friedman said in "The World if Flat," everyone can be a a supplier and a consumer. I point out both sides of the supplier and consumer relationship because who you are is being defined by where you "check-in," what you buy, where you buy and when you buy. All of this information is being tracked.

Tomorrow's LBS

Right now, consumer oriented LBS applications are all the rage. Apps like Foursquare and Gowalla are popular. In my opinion applications like this are living on borrowed time, but not because they aren't useful. On the contrary, they have proven to be very useful at educating the market and getting people to think about location and Location Based Services.

My prediction is that applications like Yelp and full blown search engines like Google and Bing will dominate the future of LBS. I also think that Facebook will make a play into this space. With the Facebook user count edging near 350M users they are a force to be reckoned with and one that will likely acquire a few of the aforementioned smaller players. The current trend with consumer-oriented LBS applications continues to drive interest and awareness for the LBS concept. They have done this by making it into a game to "check in" and become the "mayor" of some location (if you check in the most times). While this is an interesting phenomenon it's not going to pay the bills. Businesses need to make money and the big search engines and platform providers like Microsoft, Google, Oracle, SAP, Facebook and big retailers are chomping at the bit to help crack this market.

Sure, new and innovative applications will continue to enter the market and this is to be expected. But make no mistake, Google, Yahoo! and Bing have a lot of information (psychographic, demographic and socioeconomic) about the way you search, think and buy. So do Target, Safeway and Macy’s.

Each of them have vast data warehouses that form part of their Enterprise Content Management (ECM) solutions. They are looking for ways to mine data about the consumers (and businesses) that they work with on a regular basis. I'm totally OK with this. That is capitalism at its finest. I just point this out because some people will feign shock and surprise when data about them is used to try and provide pinpoint accuracy based on their LBS profiles and GPS coordinates. 

Yelp spans consumer and business

Applications like Yelp are unique in that they span both the consumer aspects of opinions, and the business side of marketing. I don’t think they have the model right yet, but they are moving in the right direction. I expect Yelp to be snapped up relatively soon too. I highlight Yelp because they have gone after a business model that seeks to combine businesses needs with the consumer and they have come the closest to creating a solution that appeals to both sides of the supplier and consumer relationship.

Back to business

Content is content, but some content is more valuable than other content. ECM based content is more valuable than most. It's been vetted, categorized and shaped to be very business specific. Businesses have spent millions (make that billions) of dollars to capture the data streams from you, the consumer.

As applications like Yelp, the big search engines and platform providers start to collate and make their vast repositories of data available for federated search--perhaps with or without your permission--a very clear picture of your searching, traveling and buying behaviors will start to appear.

This is a perfect case for a Business Intelligence oriented solution to offer up ideas for your perusal and perhaps consumption. These ideas may be offered up to you because you have set your permissions within your Location Based Search applications to alert you to a set of specific scenarios. Companies have paid a lot of money to collect, manage and sort through your data streams. I think companies are looking for the right time to jump into Location Based Services. That time is coming--and soon!

What do you think?

• Will it take a corporate commitment before LBS really takes off?
• Should your data be made public so that companies can more effectively "target" your interests?
• What LBS application(s) would you like to see?

Share your thoughts in the comments here or click on any of my contact links below. I do want to hear from you. 

Jeff Shuey has spent the better part of the last 20 years working in various aspects of the ECM industry. He is currently with Kodak as a Director of Business Development. In the past, he spent time at Kofax, Microsoft, FileNet, K2 and at Captaris (which was acquired by Open Text in Nov 2008). Prior to that he was a Unix VAR running his own company. Follow him on Twitter, check out his blog, send email or find him on Facebook or LinkedIn.

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