BT Wholesale provides location-based services

BT Wholesale is offering mobile operators and ISPs the ability to provide location-based services across its network.

BT Wholesale will allow ISP and mobile companies to brand the offering themselves.

The services use technology from Mapflow which provides mapping information. This allows customers with GPS-enabled devices to be updated with traffic reports, for example, and receive maps to route them around the tailbacks.

Similarly, customers can use the service when in unfamiliar areas to find out where the nearest hotel or restaurant is.

For recreational purposes the service could be used to offer information to tourists. In the same manner that one can have audio commentary that responds to each picture in a gallery, so the location-based services could be used to guide tourists around the landmarks of an entire city.

The services can also be extended to assist families track the location and well-being of dependents. For example, parents can know that their children – or at least their children’s phones – are at school, or have arrived home safely.

Alerts can be set up so that if someone fails to keep an appointment, a third-party is alerted.

Andy Tipping, general manager, BT Contact venture, BT Wholesale said: ‘Mobile devices are no longer viewed by consumers as simply being a means of accessing voice or SMS services; they are increasingly at the heart of an individual’s lifestyle, having the potential to deliver a wide range of personalised information and entertainment services to users to help them complete everyday tasks, as well as to relax and unwind. Location-based information services, combined with the ability to monitor the movements of vulnerable individuals, will prove an attractive proposition for consumers of mobile and broadband services.’