Have you ever used your cell phone or the web to find traffic alerts before you drive? At this point, many people have. But did you know that most of this data is based on historical trends rather than what traffic is actually like at that moment? This is the case for many popular services, including Google Maps and Verizon’s VZNavigator. While historical data can help, it’s not always going to be accurate. To make true real-time traffic reports, a company would need access to data on millions of people. That’s exactly what Airsage proposes to do. The company, which already provides traffic information to companies, has signed an agreement with Verizon to receive location data from Verizon’s 80 million-plus nationwide subscribers. This, they believe, will give them enough information to serve true traffic reports.
Yes, this means that Verizon will be essentially selling your information to a third party vendor. They assure that there are no personal security issues here; all data is purportedly anonymous, meaning Airsage receives only the location, not the person attached to it. Customers also cannot opt out of this deal, which is both a good thing and a bad thing. Good because it means Airsage will have more information and therefore be able to create more accurate readings. Bad because Verizon will sell your data whether you like it or not.
The cellphones are constantly relaying information about their whereabouts to Verizon, whether through smart phones with a GPS chip or by communicating with cell towers. Digesting this stream of data, the carrier can then get a fairly accurate reading on where you are and how fast you’re moving.
The cell towers aspect will be interesting. I currently use a BlackBerry, and for Google Maps it uses cell phone tower data to pinpoint your position. It’s usually off by a decent bit, up to a mile. How this affects the service I’m not sure. Perhaps because of the contract Verizon will use multiple cell towers to triangulate position. From what I’ve been told, Google Maps uses just one cell tower to approximate your location.
The added benefit to VZW customers is that this feature will likely go along with VZNavigator. In fact, I can’t imagine Verizon selling location data to a third party if it wasn’t going to be used for its own GPS service. There’s no word yet on when the data will show up in navigation programs.
Share this Post
Subscribe and Follow
Subscribe to the Going Cellular feed via RSS and follow Going Cellular on Twitter!
{ 0 comments… add one now }