Location Based Services

It's possible to have too much information.

What you need is the right information, at the right time, in the right place – and given to the right person.

Rowing boat Location-based services give you key information about a particular person, a particular asset, or a particular site – when and where you need it.

There’s a world of information out there.

We all know that – but how would it be if you didn’t have to look for it?
Supposing it could find you?

And supposing it were always timely, relevant and organised by location?

Suppose, for example, that you run a shipping company – and you receive an alert that a vessel in the China Sea has stopped, and is now on the wrong heading?

Or you run a large retailing company, and want an up to the second snapshot of sales and stocks for one particular line in two comparable areas delivered to your desktop at a time of your choosing every day – or even every hour?

Is that science fiction? Not any more. In fact it’s possible right now. And it could revolutionise your business.

Technology

It’s no secret that detailed geographic information is already the next big thing in software. The industry is moving from traditional data like places of interest and field boundaries to staggeringly detailed information about a particular location – information that bridges the gap between the old world of GIS and the new world of web mapping.
As a result, a far wider audience than ever before can see and find information based on a new and powerful combination of detailed maps and quality satellite imagery.

Microsoft’s new Virtual Earth service has been developed with precisely these applications in mind. Unlike similar services elsewhere, it’s been designed from the ground up for integration with real business applications – and to deliver measurable business benefits.

Imagine, for example, a live traffic feed integrated with detailed mapping for a transport management system – which could also calculate precise journey mileages for individual products and deliver data for a green audit. Or how about detailed, 3D models of a proposed construction site married precisely to maps and aerial photographs of the actual location – with other key data instantly accessible from the same interface, using service-oriented architecture and web-based interfaces to create a mash-up of data from many different sources.

The result is to release data locked up in GIS systems, and make far more effective use of existing data. It could even allow users to search for specific data that interested them in any area where they happened to be at the time. (So utility engineers, for example, could be alerted to problems in their immediate area automatically.)

Location-based data of this kind is already becoming vital for larger companies looking to cut costs and deliver on their environmental promises.

So why not give AWS a call today and find out just how we can help?

How it can help you

Anyone who’s come in to a bulging email inbox on a Monday morning knows that too much information is as bad as too little.

It’s true that business thrives on information, but it needs to be the right information, delivered at the right time to the right person in the right place.

With location-based services, that’s exactly what you get.

Because with location-based services, you aren’t just looking for words. You can search on criteria like time and place. You can drill down to specific performance information about a specific company asset – and put it side by side with exactly the same information about another asset hundreds of miles away, or just next door. And you can get the results in real time – while they are happening.

You could even get quick, easy and efficient access to all the data you need for a green audit – at a time when energy efficiency has an increasing impact on the bottom line.

Location-based services are the future of your company – because they tell you exactly what’s happening right now.

Give us a call to find out more.

How it has helped others - MOB Guardian

Over the last two years AWS and the RNLI have developed this ground breaking automatic alerting system to enhance the RNLI’s search and rescue operation.

The solution involves putting a small communications unit in fishing boats, which is configured to send periodic vessel position reports to the satellite infrastructure.

This includes a GPS position course and speed and vessel identification that is relayed to the RNLI's operations room should a vessel be in difficulty or if there is a man over board.

Benefits
Quicker search and rescue response time
The prevention of deaths at sea
Taking the 'search' out of 'search and rescue'
Rapid application development with Microsoft tools
Potential to save more lives globally

Background
The fishing industry continues to be one of the most dangerous occupations with one of the highest fatality rates. On average, about 24 fishermen a year lose their lives in UK and Irish waters.

What is innovative about the system?
The system is the first of its kind to combine a man overboard function, vessel overdue monitoring and two way communications with the search and rescue services. The system provides a wireless personal safety device that has been developed to be worn by crew members. Coupled with a low cost satellite communications system, when a crew member goes overboard, the search and rescue services are alerted typically within 1 minute. In addition, the system regularly reports the vessel’s position, course and speed. The two way communications allows the search and rescue services to communicate back with the vessel in distress to let them know that help is on its way.

For more information visit www.mobguardian.com

“This is a revolutionary new system that will help the RNLI to save more lives at sea. It will help us take the 'search' out of search and rescue, and enable us to reach casualties more quickly. Minutes can make the difference between life and death in the waters around our coastline”
Michael Viasto — Operations Director RNLI

“AWS Ltd a Microsoft solutions partner has always provided apositive, enthusiastic and innovative approach to its use of Microsoft software solutions, their understanding and deployment of Microsoft MapPoint and Virtual Earth through the RNLI project have established them as one of the leading developers of Location Based Services on both land and sea”
Alistair Beagley - Microsoft