There's not too many deets on this just yet, but apparently, UK's CSR is getting set to showcase a technology known as eGPS (enhanced Global Positioning System, if you couldn't guess) at Mobile World Congress 2008. According to the firm, it delivers a "universal positioning capability that will not only work reliably indoors and in zero GPS signal conditions, but greatly speed time to fix in poor GPS reception areas where most handsets are used." More specifically, it can "exploit data available from the cellular network to speed GPS fixes and provide complementary, fast, and reliable location sensing when GPS signals are weak or unavailable." Best of all, the firm is hoping to add eGPS capabilities to handsets for under $1 per unit, and it's also using the stage in Barcelona to trumpet a single-chip GPS receiver with embedded Bluetooth and FM radio. Unfortunately, mum's the word on when this stuff will actually find its way into mobiles.

[Via NaviGadget]

It's not like we weren't already aware of SiRF's participation in the Open Handset Alliance, but nevertheless, the company is sounding pretty ecstatic about the software developer kit it "just received." Reportedly, the outfit is already hard at work on "end-to-end location-enabling features" for Android, and in case you couldn't guess, it's also providing Android platform support for a plethora of products based on its famed SiRFstarIII architecture. Essentially, the firm is hoping to take advantage of having location as a "native feature" within Android, and it makes the obvious sound a whole lot more intriguing by teasing us with visions of "out-of-the-box locative experiences" involving geo-tagging, geo-searching and social networking. Still, we'll tip our hat to any form of tight integration, but this here's probably nothing to get riled up over.

From listening to your phone calls to reading your text messages, Big Brother will always find a way to keep up to date with our lives. For a 10 year old boy from Pennsylvania who was waiting for a heart transplant, it was an indispensable technology that saved his life. While waiting for a phone call notifying him a donor had been found, they boy was out with his family and unreachable. Luckily for him, his mother had a Sprint celly and the authorities where able to locate them while at a local jazz festival using the phones integrated GPS. Soon after being located, the boy was rushed to Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh where the surgery was a success.

It doesn't seem too useful at first glance, but imagine being able to text your mates with a simple "I'm here" to get your point across. Especially on a device with a numeric keypad, busting out an SMS with crossroads or landmarks can suck since predictive text systems aren't terribly skilled with proper nouns. Korea's KTF has launched what it calls "location-tracking MMS," allowing users to automatically attach zoomed in maps of their present location to outgoing multimedia messages. The carrier is also shopping around the feature for emergency use, since it's a quick and easy way for a subscriber to communicate their coordinates to rescue personnel (a la e911). With accuracy to within about 500 meters, though, you better deploy a big ol' group of rescuers.

It's quite possible that you're at least somewhat familiar with Skyhook's ability to use WiFi in order to track down various objects, and while you've likely become desensitized to SiRF after seeing it in just about every GPS / NAV device ever produced, the two are teaming up to deliver a GPS / WiFi hybrid module for wireless carriers. Skyhook's WiFi Positioning System (WPS) will be getting a boost after inking a deal to get inside SiRF's Multimode Location Platform, which "promises to boost the availability and adoption of location-based services." The new duo will join ACCESS (among the throngs of others) at 3GSM next week in order to showcase the new technology, which is slated to provide a new level of accuracy by giving handsets the ability to find your way with two tracking protocols. Additionally, the inclusion of WiFi is said to help lock onto an initial signal much quicker than a typical standalone GPS receiver can, and if all goes as planned, we could see the hybrid technology alive and well in SiRF's Star III series of chipsets "later this year."

[Via GigaOM]

Intelligent roadways and traffic monitoring systems have been available (albeit not always entirely accurate) for some time now, but if IntelliOne and AirSage have their way, finding out about real-time roadblocks (and voyeurism lawsuits) could become a more fleshed-out reality. The firms are looking to utilize that oh-so-telling "anonymous" location data from each traveler's cellphone to pinpoint locations and overlay that information with maps. If wireless companies open up that data at a rate of "twice per second" while users are conversing and "once every 30 seconds" when not on a call, the entrepreneurial duo hopes to offer more detailed information and pragmatic advice than "radar, helicopters, or cameras" currently do. While keeping a keen eye on traffic developments certainly has its benefits, the real issue here is privacy (or the lack thereof); while government uses have already been in place, carriers are (understandably) more hesitant to turn over consumer data for locating purposes. While the service would be marketed free of charge to wireless carriers, interested customers not enraged by such intrusions could purchase the data for a monthly fee, and if all goes as planned, the Tampa pilot that is currently ongoing will lead to "40 other markets" being invaded by this time next year.

[Via The Wireless Report]