LBS, GIS can move you towards big business

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Location Based Services (LBS) represent areas of continued interest for application developers and service providers eager to penetrate the market. Mobility and social networking & media is impacting on the development of the industry.

It is an area of technology that is changing rapidly, due, in part, to the advent of social media, mobile technology and user habits claim experts.

Speaking at the GISSA (Geo-Information Society of South Africa) Ukubuzana 2012 Conference and Exhibition, held recently in Johannesburg, Etienne Louw, Managing Director of mapIT, said the GIS profession has changed significantly.

“From my point of view, I have seen GIS being implemented since 1986 and, unfortunately, I have not seen too many successful implementations – Why? GIS professionals always make things extremely difficult for the client, but there is a modern API world evolving,” he said.

According to Louw LBS is the most sought-after mobile feature today. Approximately one fifth of the world’s six billion mobile users are already using LBS, and navigation via maps and GPS is engaged by 46% of mobile users worldwide. 

One in five or 22% of LBS users engage applications designed to help them find friends and 26% use the technology to find restaurants and entertainment venues.

“In Sub-Saharan Africa the figure is 10% and growing rapidly,” Louw added.

Referring to the mass impact of social networking and social media, Louw said the ‘social sharing world’ is exploding. Whilst some people believe sharing would be restricted because of security, Louw suggested that people are naturally inclined to share information – particularly through social networks.

The implications for business are clear in terms of merging services into the social graph. “Technology is being used to augment people’s shopping experience.  There are systems in place that can help the consumer identify and locate the nearest special,” he added.

“Ninety eight percent of all ad impressions are actually put on a mobile or mobile app solution. It is important to understand the space of a mobile phone in this evolving world of advertising. Advertisers can anticipate where a person will be and put an ad in front of you that may suit your needs at that specific point in time.”

Louw also had a message for developers or organisations wanting to enter the space characterised by LBS/ GIS convergence with mobility: do not cater for one segment exclusively, consider all phone users and market segments.

Chris Tredger, Online Editor