location awareness

A device's location is usually determined by one of three methods: GPS satellite tracking, cellular tower triangulation or, on Wi-Fi networks, by comparing nearby MAC addresses.

Location awareness is an increasing trend in hardware and software. Here are a few of the current applications:

• As a component of games on hand held systems.
• As digital camera add-ons (for example, in Sony's GPS-CS1 GPS device and Jelbert's Geotagger).
• On photo-sharing websites, such as Picassa, where pictures are linked to the location where they were taken on a map.
• In memory cards (such as Eye-Fi SD) that automatically tag the location of a picture.
• In social networking services, for example to display the location of each microblogging post to Twitter.
• In cell phones, smart phones and other devices to deliver location-specific advertisements and information.
• In GPS systems in vehicles for navigation or local information, such as traffic reports.

As location awareness becomes more prevalent, so do concerns about privacy and security. The IETF has a working group, Geographic Location/Privacy (geopriv) exploring methods of safeguarding users while furthering the technology.

Learn more about Smartphones and Mobile Phones

Do you have something to add to this definition? Let us know. Send your comments to techterms@whatis.com

More resources from around the web: - On Lifehacker.com, Adam Pash explains 'How Your Location-Aware iPhone Will Change Your Life.' - Brady Forrest discusses 'Location awareness in hardware.' - The IETF maintains a website for their Geographic Location/Privacy (geopriv) working group. - Back in 2004, John Canoni reported on employers using location awareness to track employees.

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