Wireless 3GSM Shuttle Bus Demo

At the 3GSM World Congress, Whereonearth will, for the first time, allow conference delegates to experience live Where-based services in real-time, both on the exhibition floor and on their mobile devices. These applications combine detailed location information together with highly-granular locality data and user profiles to deliver an intuitive and relevant service to consumers. The applications unveiled at the show will include a 3GSM shuttle bus information demonstration, available to conference delegates staying in selected hotels around Nice and Cannes, and the Where-based personalisation engine developed in conjunction with NCorp.

"For too long people have seen location-based services as being merely about physical location, and not surprisingly have been underwhelmed," said Patson Anius, CTO of Whereonearth. "By combining location data with truly useful information about the locality, operators can create genuine value by enabling the user to answer the question 'where...?' The key to this is building a more personalised and intuitive service network. At 3GSM, Whereonearth will be demonstrating a range of new applications that will create a truly compelling experience for the user and a source of further revenues for the operator."

SHUTTLE BUS TRACKING
Whereonearth has partnered with official 3GSM transport provider LSO, and GPS solution provider Airbiquity, to deliver a real-time timetable for the conference shuttle bus. The service uses Whereonearth's position and zone server technology to track the location of buses running on selected routes between hotels and the conference centre. Users can interrogate the system by sending a simple SMS with the first four letters of their hotel name, and by return receive the times of the next two buses to the Congress centre.

Key elements underlying this technology demonstration include:
Zones Technology - enables the creation of geographic "zones" to provide real-time updates on the bus' progress as it passes zone boundaries. The position of bus data from the network is analysed and the Zones technology establishes rules to govern verification and frequency of monitoring. Whereonearth technology also improves the predictive accuracy of the timetabling by allocating zones a weighting according to peak-time traffic flow to increase accuracy as buses travel through areas en route to pick-up points.

PERSONALISATION
Working in conjunction with NCorp, a leading provider of intelligent search and personalisation software, Whereonearth has integrated its Where-based services platform with the NCorp Ijen Customer Interaction Platform. This allows location and locality information to be tailored according to the individual preferences and needs of the user, enabling the operator to answer the questions of "Who, what, why, when and where?" when delivering mobile data services.

WHERE-BASED SERVICES DEMO SUITE
Whereonearth will be demonstrating a comprehensive range of Where-based services on the company's stand. These combine simple location information and a highly intuitive interface to enable users to access the information that they need rapidly with minimum hassle. By reducing the number "clicks" required by the user to access the relevant information, Whereonearth's technology increases the "stickiness" of Where-based applications such as "Where is my nearest...?" thus driving operator revenues.

All applications can be seen on the Whereonearth stand (Hall 2, Stand G6). The bus shuttle information service is open to conference delegates for the cost of a simple text message.