Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/70379
Emerging ecosystems enable users to plan routes at home; local search on their phones; and easily send information among home, car and phone systems. Smartphone OSs and platforms such as Facebook are evolving, and user interfaces (UIs) are becoming more customized and personalized. Apps and developers will continue to drive innova- tion, but the focus will be on core functionality and the ability to integrate into an overall UI experience. People will still check in, search for reviews and navigate, and the underlying technologies will continue to evolve, but the UI experience will be integrated at the OS and plat- form level. These changes will have a profound impact on the way location content, services and applications are created and delivered. Content In the future, we'll see content (maps) evolve away from traditional delivery models to always-connected services. Static content delivered in exchange file formats won't be acceptable. Organizations won't invest in development teams to compile location content and solve complex problems such as routing and navigation. Location will be a feature in a larger solution in many of the emerging LBS use cases. Developers will depend on content providers to deliver content in an accessible, easy-to-consume way. In many cases, this will mean delivery via application pro- gramming interfaces (APIs) on a hosted developer platform. It also could mean the delivery of run-time maps such as Navigation Data Standard (NDS) directly to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs)—although NDS is being developed primarily as an automotive standard, it also could be used for mobile and LBS solutions. In both cases, content providers deliver content as well as the services that incorporate the content. Examples include rendered map tiles, geocod- ing services and routing algorithms. A "heat map" shows a snapshot of driver activity that can be used to validate existing roads, identify new roads, and identify contextual content such as gas stations and parking lots. 28 GEO W ORLD / JUNE 2O12 Fresh Maps An inherent advantage to these new delivery models is that it will become easier for content providers to deliver fresher, more up-to-date (and ultimately live) content. As data-collection tools become more sophis- ticated, map edits can be made in almost real time and then pushed to application developers through new product-delivery mechanisms. In turn, as more experiences take place on mobile, connected devices, applications can be continuously updated. This means the user experience is vastly improved—users expect their maps to reflect reality and incorporate new roads quickly. This can be turned into a closed loop as input provided by users (actively and passively) then can be delivered back to content providers to be incorporated into databases (i.e., crowdsourcing). Industry Trends