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3G services: location based sevice (LBS) : quick map - where am I?

Part of 3G network infrastructure is "a box with location services" or in other words server and proper location software that is working especially for 3G networks. It can be purchased by a network operator together with purchase of the whole 3G network infrastructure.

It is worth mentioning that location based services are not unique to 3G (i.e. UMTS / WCDMA ) and many operators in fact already implemented them for 2G (or 2.5G = GPRS or 2.75G = EDGE) already - either as their internal solutions or as purchased external 3rd party products, or as part of delivery with the network infrastructure...

Although possible already in 2.5G, location based services work the best with 3G for many reasons - not only because 3G networks support them natively, but also because much bigger transfer speeds make loading maps and getting answers from servers much faster!

In this article we present "quick map" - a location based service at 3G operator "3" in UK - that allows you to find out where you are at the moment (sometimes in the night and in the middle of nowhere it can be problematic). It is kind of "GPS location finding" but without GPS - usually network calculates your location based on triangulation.

Using of this webservice requires usage of WAP browser, which, when opened, shows "Today on 3" page at first:

... but before you use "quick map" you need to select "Services":

... and the scroll down to see "Quick Map" icon:

... which upon pressing shows you query dialog, where you can select map of what you want to show (you can show maps of some other streets too, but you can also search for your "Current Location"):

After selecting "Current Location" you need to scroll down to notice "Find" button:

... where you can also observe that price of this service is 25p (0.25 British pound). After pressing "Find" button you get this page:

... where you can "use above" to show the map where you are:

... and by selecting "+" and "-" from the menu on the right, you can also zoom in and out the map:

Conclusion: if you would use GPS and some mapping software, then such location queries would be free, but with this service you don´t need to carry GPS with you. Furthermore you can use this service also inside of buildings - anywhere where is coverage for your 3G network! Therefore this solution also has some advantages with regard to classic solution, i.e. GPS based.