This is clever. Bluesky positioning has been working with Telemap to bring GPS to ‘any’ GSM mobile phone. It is a brilliant idea, but maybe one that would have a much bigger market 2 years ago.
The full press release is here (PDF)- London, UK and Sophia Antipolis, France – March 18, 2010 – Telmap, the global leader in mobile location solutions and BlueSky Positioning, a pioneer of A-GPS for the SIM card industry, jointly announced today a cooperation to bring for the first time ever, real-time search, mapping and navigation to mobile phones, with A-GPS SIM. This cooperation showcases the ability of BlueSky Positioning’s A-GPS technology to incorporate navigation onto mobile phones which lack integral GPS capabilities.
BlueSky Positioning’s A-GPS technology, embedded into a phone’s SIM card, together with Telmap’s search, mapping and navigation solution enable effortless on-the-go experience, including excellent in-car navigation sessions with 3D moving maps, multi-lingual turn-by-turn directions with street names using text-to-speech, as well as traffic and speed camera information (where available). Telmap’s solution also includes unique pedestrian navigation, guiding users through pedestrian-only areas such as parks, squares, passages, and stairs, tracking user’s progress as they walk. The Telmap – BlueSky Positioning cooperation allows (smart and) mid-range phone users to access real-time location information without the need to invest in location-aware hardware. The full, comprehensive set of LBS features provided by Telmap’s Location Companion works seamlessly with BlueSky Positioning’s A-GPS location technology to provide accurate, instant location data and information.
Ronen Soffer, CTO at Telmap, commented, “In utilizing BlueSky’s innovation, Telmap can introduce its LBS and Navigation solution to a larger addressable market, which now includes new consumer segments and a multitude of mid-range mobile phones. This helps further realizing Telmap’s strategy of mass market reach for its services, while boosting Operators’ business case as well as control over distribution and customer ownership of such services.”
