When the iPhone first came into being, I very quickly noticed the commentary in regards to the lack of GPS being integrated into the device. But even then, I found myself repeatedly asking the questions in the discussion — is it even necessary? I’m fully aware of the triangulation methodologies that exist in wireless, without the use of GPS.
This week, Google released their newest Beta for Google Mobile, Google Maps with My Location. Below is the YouTube demonstration from that page.
My Location works by understanding if your handset device has GPS capability. If your device doesn’t have GPS capability, it gracefully offers an option to approximate a handset’s location by triangulating the network’s signal strengths between the towers.
Is it accurate? Given awareness of triangulation methodologies using towers, it’s certainly close enough to use it for what your personal navigation needs are, and for closely approximated location services. And in time, Google has the ability to make the method even more accurate — by storing only the necessary point-data for increasing accuracy of the service and optimizing the user experience. I suppose, consider it like another community or cloud-source approach to contributing the location information to increase accuracy of the system. You’re participating in your use — and the more that people participate in use, the better that system becomes as it learns.
Another issue I’d like to point-out, is that Google takes great efforts to ensure the privacy of its users. They don’t collect personal information in the context of tracking a user’s every move — they make this perfectly clear. Google is also sensitive to provide an option to turn My Location off, and for whatever reason you might wish to do so.
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