Video: GPS cell phones plot, predict traffic

With the popularity of GPS-enabled cell phones, it makes sense to use that mapping technology to plot traffic speeds. A new UC Berkeley and Nokia pilot program tests out the tech in the San Francisco Bay Area, where CNET's Kara Tsuboi gives it a spin on News.com.

Judge Limits Searches Using Cellphone Data

The government must obtain a warrant based on probable cause of criminal activity before directing a wireless provider to turn over records that show where customers used their cellphones, a federal judge ruled Wednesday, in the first opinion by a federal district court on the issue, reports The Washington Post .

"Judge Terrence F. McVerry of the Western District of Pennsylvania rejected the government's argument that historical cellphone tower location data did not require probable cause.

The ruling could begin to establish the standard for such requests, which industry lawyers say are routine as more people carry cellphones that reveal their locations. Around the country, magistrate judges, who handle matters such as search warrants, have expressed concern about the lack of guidance. "

Cell phones tracking nightlife activity

Citysense is software for Blackberry phones (and soon the iPhone) which shows you where the wild things are happening in your own town. Roland Piquepaille's Technology Trend reports.

Citysense uses advanced machine learning techniques to number crunch vast amounts of data emanating from thousands of cell-phones, GPS-equipped cabs and other data devices to paint live pictures of where people are gathering. Citysense is available today in San Francisco before being soon deployed in Chicago and five other U.S. cities.

But read more...

Los Angeles Trafic Cam spotter for cell phones

NBC4 has partnered with 3rd Dimension, Inc. to launch NBC Los Angeles Traffic Cam, a free service for mobile phone users providing live, up-to-the-second traffic information for Los Angeles and San Bernardino Counties.

The advertising supported service is designed to help millions of daily commuters view traffic tie-ups on their mobile devices before leaving home, office or school. With access to a network of 270+ live, roadside cameras, NBC Los Angeles Traffic Cam can help data-enabled cell phone users plan their commutes more carefully and avoid gridlock areas.

Starting Tuesday, people with selected phone models can download the application, then click and pick from more than 270 cameras aimed at the city's streets and highways to view.

[e-mail Press release]

GPS gadgets can reveal more than your location

Here's a scary thought. Researchers at Microsoft are developing new ways for GPS gadgets to know - not only where you are - but what you are doing too.

According to New Scientist, "the researchers say such new uses of the technology could help people analyse and improve their own lifestyles, and share useful data with others.

Phones and other gadgets with GPS capabilities built in are becoming ubiquitous. But they are typically used for little more than revealing a person's current whereabouts on a map."

Nokia to bring real time traffic updates to phones

electronista reports that "Nokia has just announced it will team up with ARC Transistance, the European automobile club network, to provide users of its phones with Real Time Traffic Information.

The service will be offered as an option with a subscription fee in Nokia Maps 2.0 and any newer Nokia software. "

S Korean police seek to equip GPS system to cell phone users

South Korean police are pushing a controversial plan to have all new mobile phones equipped with a chip that can locate the user through satellite-based positioning technology, reports China View.

"The new proposal is submitted in a bid to combat the increasing incidence of kidnapping and other crimes against women and children, the police said.

The measure will risk infringing on the privacy of mobile users and raise the prices of cell phones, the Chosun Ilbo reported on Thursday.

In addition, the system does not work well indoors, where satellite signals are blocked."

Related: - Wireless carriers in the US are rolling out services for people-tracking, made possible by GPS. (WSJ)

Sports,Tracked by Phone

Japanese mobile operator KDDI/AU offers a Smart Sports service, enabling users to to track their exercise route and sync their music. Image left is an ad for the service at Shibuya station.

Nokia offers something similar on their N-Series phones, enabling users to download Sports Tracker beta :

Information such as speed, distance and time are automatically stored to your training diary, and on this site you can store and share your workouts and routes.

[via everyone's favorite Jan Chipchase for Future Perfect]

Korea GPS phone comes with virtual golf caddy

KTF will help golfers to aim their tee-shots better with its phones equipped with a virtual golf caddy program. New Launches reports. "The option allows its users to measure the distance from the tee box to their current positions or from their current positions to the cup.

The phones carry the geographic information of some 250 golf courses in Korea and receive real-time data from satellites.

According to KTF he system has a 5-meter accuracy range in most cases. It also shows the location of fairways, greens, sand bunkers and water hazards. Only two models are currently available but more will come to the market soon."

Satellite Phones on TV's 'Lost' Can't Be Real

ABC's LOST is getting some flack for showing fictitious satellite phones. Live Science reports.

"The spiritually-tested castaways struggle with the arrival of newcomers who can actually communicate with the outside world. They carry something resembling a large cell phone with a touch-screen face, like a long narrow Apple iPhone, with no visible antenna. A spokesman for the LOST production company confirmed to LiveScience that the devices are, indeed, supposed to be satellite phones.

In the real world they couldn't possibly be satellite phones.

"No satellite phone handset that I am aware of has any form of touch screen available to the user," said a spokesman for Globalstar Inc., a satellite phone network.

Meanwhile LOST characters are depicted as tracking each other's locations using the handsets' screens, which can apparently deliver high-resolution, full-motion video.

.... Oh well—it is fiction, after all. ABC was not able to supply any out-takes of the phone's screen, because, apparently, it's a computer-generated special effect, indicated the LOST spokesman."

[via TV Tattle]

Nokia aiming to banish paper maps

Nokia has launched navigation tools designed to make the paper street map obsolete for pedestrians, reports the BBC.

"The firm's next generation of digital maps gives real-time walking directions on the mobile phone screen, just like sat-nav systems which guide drivers.

"Nokia is taking navigation services out of the car so it can always be with you," said Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, president and CEO of the firm. "Struggling with oversized paper maps will become a thing of the past."

Nokia GPS Phones to Fight the Traffic Plague

Nokia has developed software that allows data to be received from GPS enabled phones, which is then compiled and interpreted into traffic flow patterns. The plans are currently at concept stage, with a demonstration recently taking place as a joint venture between Nokia, California Center for Innovative Transportation (CCIT), CalTrans, and Berkeley's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

[via Gizmodo]

Related:

-- Beating traffic with mobiles

-- New cell phone technology gets you there on time

-- Using phones to monitor road traffic

In CBS Test, Mobile Ads Find Users

CBS plans to announce on Wednesday that it is trying one of the first serious experiments with cellphone advertising that is customized for a person’s location. Its CBS Mobileunit is teaming up with the social networking service Loopt, which allows its subscribers to track participating friends and family on their mobile phones.

The ads will appear on two Web sites that are tailored for mobile devices, CBS Mobile News and CBS Mobile Sports.

... Using Loopt’s G.P.S.-based technology and capitalizing on its relationships with mobile carriers, CBS Mobile wants to make it easier for advertisers to aim promotions at consumers more precisely as they walk by particular stores and restaurants.

[via The New York Times]

Google gives location on your phone without GPS

Google is updating its Google Maps for Mobile with a new location finder feature that allows users to find their location even though they don't have a GPS chip in their device. The My Location feature, which is available as a beta, helps the more than 85 percent of handsets that don't have GPS functionality.

[via San Francisco CHronicle]

Remote Parenting or tattle-tale technology

Spotted on Laurent Haug's Blog, an interesting article I missed in October, from the The New York Times on tattle-tale technology.

Brian Aladesuyi, 17, received a new Jeep in exchange for a promise: he would never drive it outside his hometown. His father, chief executive of the security firm EarthSearch Communications, used Earth Search ’s Web site to map Kennesaw’s boundaries into the Jeep’s onboard computer, surrounding the entire city with an electronic fence.

But when his father took a business trip to Brazil, Brian decided to try his luck. Brian drove to Marietta, a neighboring town. Seconds after Brian breached the invisible wall, his father received a text message on his mobile phone [and] sent a message commanding the computer to disable the Jeep’s engine.

Jacket lets parents keep track of children

Robbie is wearing one of the first GPS tracker jackets, launched this week in the UK by BladeEunner, the clothing manufacturer that specialises in equipment for the police and security services and which recently brought out the first school uniform in slash-proof Kevlar in partnership with Asset Monitoring Solutions (AMS), a market leader in tracking and security technologies. The Guardian reports.

... The small rechargeable device - it has a 15-hour battery - fits neatly into a pouch inside the jacket. You switch it on when you leave the house and what you get is nothing less than the ability to know where someone is - within four square metres - anywhere in the world. You can watch them move, check where they've been and get updates every 10 seconds.

You don't even need to be permanently logged on to your computer, as you can have email alerts sent to your Blackberry or text messages to your mobile.

Nokia and Renault team up in Navigation Drive

Nokia said it will co-brand a set of Renault Twingo cars which will go on sale later this month, packed with Nokia's navigation system and handsfree equipment.

"Navigation is a new and fast growing industry and we are also looking for new ways to operate there. Co-operation of Nokia and a car industry is a natural step," Nokia's spokeswoman Eija-Riitta Huovinen said on Wednesday.

[via I4U]

Fugitive, traced by cell phone, captured at Union Station

Isaiah Mayweather, 25, a man wanted in a killing at a party store in the Detroit area was arrested Saturday on a Metra train at Chicago's Union Station after police used cell phone tracing technology to pointpoint his location. [via The Chicago Tribune]

iPhone Drives Google Maps Usage, YouTube Lags

iPhone just might be the best thing that has ever happened to Google Maps -– it has made them popular like never before and has driven the usage substantially. This information comes courtesy of Marissa Mayer, Google’s vice president of search products & user experience.

How about YouTube, which is getting heavy promotion on television as part of Apple’s ad campaign? Meyer said YouTube on iPhone has not caused any major upsurge in video viewing.

[via GigaOM]

Cell Phone GPS Data Gets Man Fired

The New York Department of Education plans to use data from a department-issued GPS cell phone to prove they were right to fire construction foreman John Halpin. They say the phone proves he slacked at home while getting paid for work.

"Managers tracked his whereabouts using the GPS receiver in his company-issued cell phone, and now they're using that data to prove that he was lounging at home when he should have been watching people build stuff.

Records show multiple occasions where Halpin left his job well before his shift had ended. In fact, he's been flagged for up to 83 early exits in a five-month period."

[Yahoo! Tech via The Raw Feed]

Nokia starts global positioning service

The Washington Post reports that Nokia launched a service which it said would cut the time a GPS-enabled cellphone takes to pinpoint its whereabouts, opening new opportunities for location-based online services.

"Nokia hopes the service, available for users of its flagship N95 phones, will cut the startup time to one minute, from up to three minutes currently. The slowness has so far hampered takeup of cellphone navigation.

Handset makers see GPS-based navigation as one of the next big value-adding offerings and even at this early stage."

Sprint to Offer Loopt's 'Friend Finding' Service

Sprint Nextel Corp. announced its launch of Loopt Inc.'s "friend finding" service", reports the WSJ.

"The service allows users to view on their cellphones the location of friends who are also Loopt users.

The service tracks phones using the Global Positioning System and other network technology, updating users' locations every 15 minutes.

To address privacy concerns, users must grant permission to others to track their whereabouts and can choose at any time to stop broadcasting their location."

Beating traffic with mobiles

Working out how people use a city's roads and planning for it, can be difficult, but research into mobile phone use may hold the key to preventing traffic jams in the future. The BBC reports.

"Researchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) are using data from mobile-phone networks to create real time maps of people moving around the city.

Networks keep track of subscribers to ensure signals stay strong, and because so many people have mobiles, this data can give an accurate picture of where people are in a city.

"This is really the first time that you can take an urban system, like a big city, and try to see in real time how it lives, how people move and what's happening in the city," says Carlo Ratti from MIT. "

Sprint targets GPS-enabled shopping

Sprint customers can now search and find products at local retailers, see price and availability information, and get directions to the store – all on select Sprint phones.

Sprint and GPShopper today announced the launch of Slifter, the first mobile local product search application that employs GPS technology to find products at neighboring retail locations.

[via FierceMobile Content]

Jogging Over a Distance

Jogging with a partner beats jogging alone, writes ABC's News in Science, but it can be difficult to find someone nearby and who runs at roughly the same pace.

"Now prototype technology developped at the University of Melbourne, makes it possible to jog with the perfect partner, even if the person lives in another city.

The Jogging over a Distance system uses mobile phone and GPS technology as well as a custom computer program to transform a phone conversation into a 3D audio experience.

While you run, you can hear your partner's voice coming from the front, to the side, or behind, depending on how fast or slow he or she is running."

More on how it works. [via we-make-money-not-art/de.icio.us]

Cell tracking locates heart recipient

A story with a happy ending. According to the Associated Press, Pennsylvania police located a 10-year-old boy awaiting a heart transplant by asking his mother's cellular provider to locate her cell phone.

"John Paul May of Harrisville had the successful surgery at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh on Saturday night, but came dangerously close to being passed over for the donor heart until police tracked down the boy and his mother at a jazz festival."

"The only time you can use it is life or death, or to track someone wanted in a homicide," state police Cpl. James Green said. Otherwise, police must get a warrant from a judge."

TV and cellphone signals may provide GPS back-up

Soldiers may no longer need to rely on satellite navigation to pinpoint themselves or targets, if a new US military research project succeeds. New Scientist reports.

"The Robust Surface Navigation programme, funded by the US government's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), aims to extract accurate positioning information from "signals of opportunity". These may include television and cellphone transmissions, if satellite signals are unavailable.

Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers pinpoint their location by measuring precisely how long signals from several satellites take to reach them. But these signals can be difficult to receive in built-up urban areas, or inside buildings, and can also be jammed by an enemy.

To overcome this problem, the Robust Surface Navigation project is intended to replace missing GPS information by using other incidental signals to calculate location. "

Rescuers find road crash man using mobile phone signal

A man who was stuck in his car after a road accident on Saturday night was found by rescuers after they tracked the location of his mobile phone. The Local reports, via digg.

"... "With the help of telecom operator Telia , the location of the man's mobile phone could be traced.

"Within that area there were four roads which we searched. After an hour we found him Mats Rosenqvist, spokesman at Jönköping police."

Taxis in Nairobi use new GPS technology

Mumbi's Dial-a-Cab company is one of 20 fleet firms in Kenya which have adopted a new vehicle-tracking technology that has been made possible by the growth of mobile phones. The BBC reports.

The brains behind this new technology are two young IT enthusiasts, Paul Mahiaini and Waweru Kimani. "We saw a gap in the market with fleet owners having a huge problem monitoring their vehicles," says Mahiaini, who acts as marketing director of Stoic Company.

"Misuse of vehicles by drivers is common, as is fuel theft, and fleet owners in the past relied on drivers to tell them the location of each vehicle. "So we developed this new tracking technology which enables companies and individuals to monitor their vehicles in real time on the internet using the mobile phone network".

This device captures information such as when car doors are opened, how long the car has stopped, and vehicle speed and location.

Through a built-in mobile phone sim card, the transponder continuously relays the data back to Stoic's main server and the control room of the fleet company via the mobile phone network".

Tom Tom Go 715 mobile phone

With more and more cell phones integrating GPS, Tom Tom, the sucessful portable GPS car navigation system, is fighting back.

According to Mobile Mentalism, the company is set to announce the new Tom Tom Go 715 SatNav system that accepts a SIM card and can therefore make and receive mobile phone calls. It also features built-in Bluetooth support for hands-free calling.