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LBS Vendors

The list of vendors involved in the location-based services field is extensive due to the mix of components required for a complete solution. Figure 17.5 shows how these various providers work together to provide a complete solution. At the base level are the position technology vendors, which provide either hardware or software solutions for determining the user's location. The infrastructure providers use the location information to provide services to carriers and content providers. The location-based applications use all of the aforementioned technology to target both the consumer and enterprise markets.

Figure 17.5: Location technology layout.

Each of these categories is explained briefly in this section, followed by a list of some of the technology vendors, along with their Web sites in Table 17.1. Keep in mind that the LBS market will continue to change as demand for these services increases and as the technology matures. New vendors will come to market with products, and mergers between existing vendors will likely happen.

Table 17.1: LBS Vendors

VENDOR	URL
@Road	<[e-mail]>
AirBiquity	www.airbiquity.com
Cambridge Positioning Systems	www.cursor-system.com
Cell-Loc	www.cell-loc.com
Earthlink	www.earthlink.com
Ericsson	www.ericsson.com
ESRI	www.esri.com
Garmin	www.garmin.com
Global Dining	www.globaldining.com
Global Locate	www.globallocate.com
Grayson Wireless	www.grayson.com
IBM	www.ibm.com
iPlanet	www.iplanet.com
Kivera	www.kivera.com
LoJack	www.lojack.com
MapInfo	www.mapinfo.com
Maporama	www.maporama.com
Maptuit	www.maptuit.com
Motorola	www.motorola.com
ObjectFx	www.objectfx.com
Oracle	www.oracle.com
ParthusCeva	www.parthusceva.com
Pharos	www.pharosgps.com
QUALCOMM	www.qualcomm.com
SignalSoft	www.signalsoft.com
SiRF Technology	www.sirf.com
Sun Microsystems	www.sun.com
Telcontar	www.telcontar.com
Telespatial	www.telespatial.com
Televigation	www.televigation.com
TruePosition	www.trueposition.com
TCS	www.telecomsys.com
Trimble	www.trimble.com
Vindigo	www.vindigo.com
Webraska	www.webraska.com

• Position Determination Software Vendors. These vendors provide software solutions to determine a mobile user's position. The software is typically installed on network servers, although in some cases it is deployed to wireless handsets.

• Position Determination Hardware Vendors. These vendors provide hardware chipsets or receivers for position determination.

• Location Infrastructure Providers. These vendors provide software platforms that use position information for creating location-based services. In this category you will also find GIS vendors and mapping software vendors. Corporations can use these products to create a variety of location-based applications.

• Content Providers. These vendors provide location-based services to both the consumer and corporate markets. The number of vendors in this category will surely increase as LBS grow in popularity. (Note that many of the network infrastructure vendors, such as Motorola, Ericsson, Nortel, and Nokia, provide LBS content.)

• Development Platforms. These vendors provide platforms targeted at developers for creating location-based services. Many of these platform vendors have partnered with other location vendors to provide integrated solutions.