PC World: Nokia’s Future All About (Indoor) Location

The article keys in on the new Booklet 3G which includes GPS and other portable devices as key to location technology. Among the interesting quotes:

“And Nokia’s already off to a good start, having acquired several mapping/geolocation services, including Navteq, the world’s largest mapping database.”

“I [Mark Sullivan] spoke to Nokia VP of social location services Michael Halbherr about indoor location services here today, and he said Nokia will likely roll out new indoor location services on mobile devices in about two years.”

“Each time a Nokia device approaches a building it will communicate with GPS satellite until the moment it gets inside the door, then it will begin communicating with the cellular and Wi-Fi base stations inside. By triangulating the device’s position relative to the GPS satellite outside the building, and to all the cellular and Wi-Fi hotspots inside, Nokia will be able to associate the device with a specific cell (areas 10 meters or less) as it moves around inside the building.”

The article suggests Nokia is already collecting indoor base data from its users - similar to how Google collects StreetView data. I wonder if there are legal concerns here - do I need permission to walk around in a grocery store with my cell phone and collect data on where the walls are? Especially if I don’t know I’m doing that?

Oh, and, per the article, Google is apparently also doing indoor mapping.

- PC World