Thursday, August 28. 2008

Sprint to Offer Localized Services via WiMAX - including Autodesk LS

Sprint's OHMTM WiMAX mobile broadband is poised to launch in Baltimore in September year. It's high speed wireless, basically, but, it "will be largely location-centric,” explained Rick Robinson, vice president of XOHM Services. “We’re creating a new dimension to online presence, making points of interest near your current location easy to identify and access. This ‘geobrowsing’ effect provides location context and will give XOHM members a richer personal broadband experience when they’re mobile.”

I read this as: this service is more "LBS-y" than say your iPhone with AT&T service. Perhaps; for now the list of app and platform providers is quite familiar: uLocate, Yelp, Accuweather, OpenWave, Google... One is a surprise to me:

Autodesk Inc. of San Rafael, Calif., will provide a standards-based interface and geospatial services, such as addresses, ZIP code and city/state information, to enhance location within the XOHM network.

I think that means the Autodesk Location Services platform will be available for developers. We've not heard much from Autodesk's LBS corner for a while, so this is good news.

- press release