With the increasing prevalence of smartphones, location technologies (via GPS, Wi-Fi, cellular, etc.) are enabling services around navigation, mapping, local search, fitness, and enterprise. It is also becoming an enabling technology in broader application areas such as social networking, photography, and advertising. The LBS market is finally maturing, with the technologies and services that have brought it to the fore becoming increasingly commoditized. Over the last 12 months, the indoor location market has gone from finally being a technical reality, to widespread development and adoption by major handset vendors, technology vendors, and venue owners. Over the next 12 months, smartphones will start to become available that can support indoor location for the first time. Much like the outdoor LBS world, a large ecosystem is required to support the resulting application market.
This report covers the location ecosystem for indoor mapping, handsets, and platforms (Google, Apple, Nokia, Microsoft, Samsung), indoor location technologies (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, sensors, and proximity technologies), and the different indoor location application categories (local search, navigation, retail, gaming, social networking, fitness, enterprise , and person tracking as well as new trends such as ambient intelligence and proximity awareness).