Sunday, February 13. 2005

Yet Another Way to Tag Locations

Siemens has introduced its own SMS schema to Уleave notesФ attached to locations. The notes (text, images) actually live on a server, and when a device УopenФ to receiving them, crosses in the defined area, the message it delivered. ThereТs been discussion of, and demonstration of this concept for at least the last few years. This one includes an Уon/offФ switch to help prevent SPAM and unrequested advertising. The technology is two years from rollout according an article in PC World.

This idea hasn't excited me, though perhaps I don't fully see the value just yet. That said, just recently, I found an interesting application for it. I was running with some friends across Boston and we all agreed we didn't really know where the "bad" parts of town were. Might be nice to have those "noted" by someone who knows the area to help us stay out of trouble. If we cross a geofence, a warning might appear. Or better yet, such notes migh help us stay on a planned route.

Update (2/14): A second article notes a trial by a German newspaper. The testers found that they could not leave messages and that the system was slow at times. The testers could however, locate each other.

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A few years ago, there was a big "push" for "push advertising" where by retailers would send text messages to a cell phone if you were part of a "frequent buyer" program. The technology was way ahead of its time. The SMS alternative may be another way to reach a specific clientele and with a younger generation hooked on SMS, I can very easily see retailers jumping on this technology to send "e-coupons" to customers.

#1 Joe Francica (Link) on 2005-02-14 09:47 (Reply)

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