Google delivers "Free GPS" to every cell phone

With it's new "My Location" feature, Google Maps for Mobile has finally let most of us determine (approximately) where we are in the world by looking at our cell phones.

How to use it?
  1. Load the new version of Google Maps for Mobile.
  2. Press the Zero key.
GMM then uses information gleaned from your local cell towers to approximate where you are on it's map. This is useful for you, because you could then ask Google where the closest lunch spot might be. It's good for Google because they are giving you reasonably useful information based on where they think you are.

What's next?

That means Google will soon be able to put adverts alongside the the location data it delivers and stores might be able to use such an advertising platform to deliver promotional information to your phone that might actually be useful to you. I'd like to know if there was one coffee shop or another that might care to issue a coupon for me to step into there shop as opposed to someone else's.

This video explains how My Location works:



qv: Google Maps for Mobile with My Location
Labels: , ,

About Phil Yanov

Phil Yanov is a Technologist, Columnist and Public Radio Commentator.

He is the founder of Tech After Five as well as the founder and President of the GSA Technology Council and the IT Leadership Council.

His personal technology column appears in Greenville Business Magazine and the Columbia Business Journal.

He co-hosts the Your Day technology shows heard on NPR radio stations across South Carolina and is a frequent contributor to technology stories appearing on radio and television.