Location-Based Services

Location-based services (LBS) evolved from mobile service. A mobile service is determined by the interaction of the user, the mobile device, and the mobile provider. Since the value for the users depends on the context (i.e. environmental factors surrounding them), mobile services can be assigned to different context-aware services which are characterized by integrating information about the user‘s environment into the service delivery process (Gummerus and Pihlström 2011). In fact, services that are centered on the user’s location are named location-based services. Examples for such services fall into categories like mapping, navigation, and transport; travel and tourism; local search and information; social networking and entertainment; recreation and fitness; family and people locator services; mobile resource management; mobile advertising. LBS might consequently accompany the user during the entire day starting from finding the location of his car key in the morning via key finder service such as Pally Smart Finder, using Google Maps for navigating to the office based on the latest traffic information, searching for a post office nearby to drop off parcels on AroundMe, checking in into his favorite lunch place via Foursquare, using his running app Runtastic during his afternoon run, and determining the current location of his child on FiLip in the evening. Consequently, as a starting point, LBSs can be defined as services that depend on and are enhanced by the positional information of the mobile device (Dhar and Varshney 2011). Since all users’ activities take place in time and space, location and time are the essential elements of context for mobile devices. Because, by definition, a mobile device does not remain stationary, location is a key enabler for this new class of services (Aaltonen et al. 2005). The geographic location information can be ‘‘any type of data that places an individual at a particular location at any given point in time, or at a series of locations over time’’ (Cheung 2014). Thus, LBS can be defined as any kind of network-based, mobile information services that account for and result from the positional information taken from a mobile device to provide value-added services to users, depending on their geographic context and individual preferences (Xu et al. 2009). Figure 1 reveals an overview about this concept. The value-creation for the user of LBS results from incorporating the mobile device’s location with other information and is achieved by means of timely, knowledge-based personalization. The value of the worldwide LBS market is forecasted to reach $ 39.87 billion by 2019 (Markets and Markets Analysis 2014), and the Western Accepted after one revision by Prof. Dr. Sinz.