Reality Mining, Location Based Services, and E-Business Opportunities

Abstract

The use of internet along with other technologies that enable wireless connectivity and the expansion and dissemination of the real-time positioning (GPS) in all countries and levels of the population is a great opportunity for entrepreneurship in the field of information technology. This paper shows how the effective channeling of the available information would place decision making at different levels and, regarding different concerns of today’s society, connect the online world of the Internet with the physical world. This paper has three parts. The first part shows characteristics of some applications that emerge from individual needs –geosocial networking- and those that arise to improve the functioning of society and of the public interest– like collaborative mapping and augmented reality. In the second part an example of e-enterprise–City 2020 Ltd–is described as well as its use of these sources of opportunities. Finally, the third part analyzes the main socio-ethical problems and some opportunities of location based services.