Amended from CNET News.com:
SAN JOSE, Calif.--The satellites that comprise the global
positioning system can pinpoint a person's location to within a few
meters. Intel is experimenting with ordinary wireless networks to see
if the same job can be done on land.
Researchers at Intel are examining ways to triangulate an individual's location with Wi-Fi
or cellular networks like GSM, said Ian Smith, a senior researcher from
Intel Labs at the New Paradigms of Using Computers conference at IBM's
Almaden Labs.
The main benefit of wireless networks is that they can locate someone in an urban environment. GPS
often fails in downtown crystal canyons where tall buildings can block
signals. By timing how long it takes signals to go from the satellites
to a person, a handheld containing a GPS chip can determine that
person's location.
While GPS determines only the latitude and longitude of an individual,
wireless can also determine height and thus figure out what floor of a
particular building a person is on.
"GPS is at odds with human civilization," Smith said, because humans
spend most of their time inside or in dense environments. To help prove
the point, he wore a backpack for 3.5 months with a monitor. It found
that, on average, he spent only 4.5 percent of each day outside.
Boston's Skyhook Wireless already offers location services through Wi-Fi in some urban areas in the United States.
A wireless system could potentially reduce the costs of implementing
location-based services. Adding GPS to a phone requires that the
manufacturer add a chip. In a wireless system, the calculations to
convert signal relay times into geographic location will get performed
on a phone's processor (although for now, the FCC has mandated that
phones in the future have GPS functionality). Not only does Intel
promote Wi-Fi, it has recently begun to gain momentum in the market for
cell phone chips.
This already seems to be going on for gaming purposes:
Players travel around a designated area collecting digital coins and
uploading them in exchange for points. The team with the highest total
at the end of the game wins. Each player is provided with a zoomable
and panable map of the game area, displaying their own position and the
positions of the other players in the game. Coins appear all over this
map, including those places not covered by the 802.11b wireless
network. Players must use their GPS positioning to navigate to where
the coin is displayed, and collect it using the pickup button on the
PDA interface.
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