| Imagine walking down a street or through the mall and having virtual advertising screens pop up in front of you, reminding you the pub around the corner has 5 p.m. specials, or enticing you to switch your brand of X merchandise, with the right store just happening to be within a few feet. Sounds like those futuristic movies we’ve all seen — but the reality of this is not so far removed.
Location-based advertising, based on the knowledge of where a user is located based on an information device, is a concept that is gaining steam, thanks to the usual suspects like Yahoo and Google and other companies looking to take advantage of location-based services. And although the going is a bit slow at the moment, the future of this technology has huge potential, says Craig Bleile, a Belfair resident who is the chief scientist for Port Townsend-based Mobilisa.
“The technology is here to stay and will take over more and more,” he says.
Location-based services exploit the knowledge of where an information device such as a smartphone is located (by using a GPS or other methods that use triangulation) — something similar to what 911 is already using. For advertisers, that means delivering ads to users in the specific area or region they are in at any given moment.
The ability to enter a location into a mobile device and find nearby businesses already exits through sites like Yelp.com and Google Maps, but those are web-enabled.
The technology has faced numerous hurdles, ranging from privacy issues and European Union’s strict privacy laws to mobile networks’ resistance to open up the capabilities to third-party vendors. But changes are under way: CBS, for example, has partnered up with Loopt, a social networking application for mobile phones, to deliver location-based ads. Instead of GPS, CBS-mobile will use cell tower triangulation to obtain location information.
“Right now, there is not a lot of GPS-enabled applications,” Bleile says. He points out to Apple’s iPhone as example of going around the GPS hurdles. According to Apple, the iPhone uses Wi-Fi connections through a company called Skyhood Wireless, to triangulate Wi-Fi hot spots to find a user’s location.
Bleile, who recently presented a session on “location-based information impact on mobile computing” for West Sound Technology Association, says future applications of the technology could include security tracking of personnel, asset tracking, “where’d I park my car?” tracking, and use of mobile phones as an ID mechanism — similar to the old concept of an RFID chip but without the idea of an implant into the body. He says advertising possibilities would be wide, considering that the network already knows a user’s buying/shopping habits, and could now tailor ads not only to that but to the person’s location as well.
“I really expect the first explosion soon,” he says. “It will create a whole new class of applications — it will be huge.”
He acknowledges that location-based advertising may not be the right thing for small, mom and pop type businesses, but points out even many of these small businesses are already taking advantage of Google’s AdSense service. “How much will vendors be willing to pay for highly targeted, effective advertising?” he asks and notes that companies may be willing to pay more per “set of eyballs” with such effective delivery.
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