Evolution of LBS

Literature (Rao et al., 2003; Bellavista and Kupper, 2012) contend that LBS originated in 1996 with the E911, a US mandate that compelled operators or carriers to accurately position emergency wireless calls. In Europe, the European Commission started an identical pursuit in 2002 with the introduction of a Directive for Mobile Communication, of E112. Both E911 and E112 originally designed to offer exact location coordinates to emergency control centres.

However, owing to high infrastructure costs, service providers soon launched commercial LBS.

Typical LBS included finder services aimed at delivering details on nearest points of interest (e.g. service station, restaurants), fleet management and tracking pets. However, due to a lack of interest and inadequate position systems such as cellular technology (Cell-ID positioning), the services did not take off until around 2005. A timeline of LBS is shown in Figure 3.5 below.

Figure 3.5: LBS Timeline (1996 – 2012)

Source: Bellavista and Kupper (2012).

Starting from pioneering days of LBS (pre-2005), services were mainly targeted at a single individual (e.g. tracking inventory on a map). Developments in technology infrastructure after

78 2005 such as GPS, 3G, LBS middleware technology and Web 2.0 precipitated the increased growth of LBS (Figure 3.5). Figure 3.5 shows how agile technologies (e.g. GPS, 3G, and mobile cell identity techniques) have transformed the LBS landscape up to 2012.

In the last five years, consumers use GPS facilities on their mobile devices for navigation while yet others use location capabilities to show their friends where they have been (e.g. via Instagram and Foursquare). In many cases, as the consumption patterns become routine, they become embedded in lifestyle patterns that respond to LBS. Nearly 80 million global subscribers were registered for personal navigation services in 2013.

Figure 3.6: Worldwide LBS Adoption Rates

Source: Adapted from Huang, Hsieh, and Chang, (2011), Worldwide LBS adoption 2006 to 2013.

As seen from Figure 3.6, personal navigation is the most widely-used service; other uses include Information and POI, Friends Finder and Family Tracker. Bellavista and Kupper (2012: p 4) noted changes to LBS, identifying on the one hand, a move from reactive to proactive formats and on the other, a change from self to cross-referencing. In more proactive LBS, the user initiates the service by requesting information such as nearby hotels. In reactive LBS, the user receives location services as soon as they enter a place of interest (e.g. if registered with Marriot hotels, the customer gets a reminder of forthcoming offers), when they get within a predetermined radius of the hotel. The convergence of ICT and mobile technology

79 favours the implementation of the proactive approach: location centres and functions on the devices and widespread connectivity.

Self-referencing LBS refers to those services where the user requests services whereas cross-referencing relates to services which exploit the coordinates and personal info of an individual to target them with location information. Where the latter is used, concerns for privacy have been expressed. For example, Bellavista and Kupper (2012) asserts that targets for cross-referencing LBS should restrict access to their location to a limited number of relevant service providers.

In addition, contemporary LBS approaches aim to detect multiple target positions, not just one individual. This is significant in location based social networking (LBSN) where various members of an online social group can be tagged simultaneously and sent an LBS message. An example is provided by Zheng (2011, p.24) who states:

“For example, users can upload location-tagged photos to a social networking service such as Flickr, comment on an event at the exact place where the event is happening (for instance, in Twitter), share their present location on a website (such as Foursquare) for organizing a group activity in the real world, record travel routes with GPS trajectories to share travel experiences in an online community (for example GeoLife), or log jogging and bicycle trails for sports analysis and experience sharing).”

A further development is the shift from content-driven LBS to application oriented services.

Traditionally LBS services delivered information (e.g. point of interest and maps) to users based on their location via browsers or short messaging services (SMS). The new approach relies on sending tailored applications (apps) delivered dynamically and directly to users.

Bellavista and Kupper (2012) acknowledge the value of LBS apps in delivering context specific LBS anytime and at any place: enhancing overall customer experience. At present, the increase in Wi-Fi connectivity, the introduction of i-beacons, location -enabling functions on smartphones and Bluetooth all point to LBS becoming more versatile in format and in targeting approaches. With increasingly mobile consumers, LBS is likely to rely more on a cross-referencing approach- this is relevant to this study as the focus is on customer response to unsolicited LBS and on how emerging e-lifestyles can influence response as LBS becomes even more app-oriented.

80 The convergence of information technology and new services such as LBS and retail apps has bought new retail solutions to consumers. Gartner (2014) notes how the mobile advertising market is predicted to be worth $41.9 billion by 2017. With the growth in mobile apps, apps are acting as commercial sites where consumers can search for, purchase goods or get directions of nearby store locations (The Mobile Marketing Association: MMA, 2014). The emerging location centred approach enables pull strategies whereby consumers can request for content (e.g. information and directions) from service providers and enter the retail space anytime, and anywhere. The value of LBS is the ability to deliver content based on the exact location, characteristics and profile of the consumer whilst simultaneously enhancing customer experience. With the emergence of LBS, there is potential for new behaviours given the integrated features of mobile devices.

One of the main themes in mobile marketing research has been the need to establish why and how people respond to mobile advertising messages. One perspective is that owing to consumers being time poor and mobile, they search for ways to reduce the problems when using services by seeking better access and convenience. Therefore, cconsumers’ are

“…looking for more comfort, fewer problems, lower additional costs and less trouble caused by the use of goods and services …as they seek for better value” (Gronroos, 2010, p.11).

Consumers are leveraging their mobile devices as access points to obtain required services and LBS fits into this need – LBS is directly linked to changing consumer lifestyles through routine mobile device usage.

3.2.1 Defining elements of an LBS system

Junglas and Watson (2008) define Location Based Services (LBS) as any service that uses the geographic location of an entity (object requesting information). A further definition by Ratti and Frenchman (2006) sees that LBS is ‘set of applications that use the geographical position of a mobile device to provide services tailored to that information. Typical LBS include information and directory services, tracking and navigation, emergency services, mobile location check in services and location based advertising (Dhar and Varshney, 2011, Zhou, 2012). LBS date back to 2001 when location tracking was introduced in Japan (Dhar and Varshney 2011). In the UK, LBS have been widely used in the justice system where released prisoners are tagged to monitor their movements (Thomas, Little, Briggs, McInnes, Jones and

81 Nicholson, 2013). LBS rely on a system or infrastructures to function, which are mobile devices, wireless networks, location sensing and servers (see Figure 3.7).

Figure 3.7: Basic components of the LBS System

Source: Steiniger et al., (2008)

As illustrated in Figure 3.7, the LBS ecosystem can be broken down as follows;

 Mobile devices comprising the means with which the user requests and receives required information in the form of text, pictures, maps or videos (Almasri, 2013). The growth in the adoption of Smartphone’s and increases in public Wi-Fi hotspots appear to support these services. Furthermore, the new mobile devices come equipped with built in Global Positioning Systems (GPS) widely used today for navigation purposes (Irfan, Tahir, Baig, Khan, Hashmi, Shehzad and Ali, 2009).

 Wireless networks that transmit information and services from the LBS server to the user and from user to the LBS server (Almasri, 2013).

 Location sensing that determines the physical location or position of the user using mobile network cell triangulation and satellite positioning (Almasri, Alnabhan, Hunaiti and Sedoyeka, 2009).

 LBS server, an important component of LBS storing all data (Almasri, 2013).

82 The nature of LBS is such that consumers are provided with context related information based on their location and preferences (Dhar and Varshney, 2011). Such personalised services have the potency of delivering enhanced experiences to consumers hence LBS have been termed the

‘killer application of mobile business’ (Junglas and Watson, 2008; Zhou, 2012; Zhou, 2013).

There are two variations of LBS - reactive and proactive (Kipper, 2005). Proactive LBS is controlled by the user who activates the location function or service and requests information or services; the service provider can take account of their location before responding to the request. In contrast, reactive LBS automatically activate as soon as the user enters or passes through a place of interest such as a shopping centre. While proactive LBS involves user tracking once (when they request information), reactive LBS requires constant tracking of the user to provide services tailored to that location.