Positioning techniques for location‐based services (LBS): characteristics and limitations of proposed solutions

Location‐based services are touted as the ‘killer applications’ of the mobile information revolution. This paper highlights some of the technical characteristics and limitations inherent in current mobile positioning technologies in order to set the current optimism surrounding Location‐Based Services (LBS) in context. A complex technical situation is revealed with different technologies providing results with very different spatial characteristics. Most current terrestrial solutions fail to provide results of sufficiently high spatial resolution for many of the proposed LBS applications, and satellite based solutions suffer from problems of reception and coverage in built up areas. The issue of georeferencing the services themselves is tackled and further work needs to be done on providing accurate spatial locations on the vast array of services that could be available through LBS. A current reluctance to temper these claims could arguably lead to unrealistic raising of the expectations of the buying public. The proven vulnerability of new technology to the fickleness of market opinion highlights that the technology may stand or fall not on its own merits, but on how it matches the expectations of the user.