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Personal GPS in a Mobile Phone

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the this-could-get-fun dept.

i4u writes "NTT DoCoMo announced today that it will introduce it's first Global Positioning Service (GPS)-compatible handset F661i, at the end of April. The GPS mobile phone enables users to determine their location at the touch of a button, and download location specific information via i-mode like graphical maps and other interesting information about the area. This is not like the GPS functionality that the US Phone companies introduced so far. In the US the GPS coordinates are only used for emergencies and not yet for actually providing value to the user in other situations. Users of the F661i can send their current location to other i-mode enabled phones. In addition, a memo function allows users to store location information, including map, telephone numbers and addresses. The phone supports three applications of the GPS functionality: 1)The GPS enabled Phone can be tracked by via a service, useful for instance for parents to track their kids. See also the Wherify GPS Person Locator. 2)Submission of current location in case of emergency to pre-defined organizations, like police, fire departments etc. Similar to the GPS functionality available in the US. 3)The F661i also can be used by businesses to track their delivery trucks and more. Similar to Car GPS devices."

1 of 151 comments (clear)

  1. Re:This all sounds well and good... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Troll

    A few comments about all this paranoid knee-jerking:

    1) NEWSFLASH - the authorities can already track you by your mobile phone when you make a call. It is trivial for them to locate you to the nearest cell, and if necessary it is possible for them to be more accurate by triangulating from several receivers. Furthermore, with directional antennas it is possible, using just two receivers to pinpoint you quite accurately. These ideas have been used by the military for years.

    2) I know this is the age old counter-arguement to people worried about privacy but I have yet to hear a decent reply: Unless you are doing something wrong, why does it matter that people can track you? I want an answer other than "Just because..."

    3) How can you be so arrogant to think the authorities would care enough to track you every day? You are probably just an ordinary person like many million others. So, again, unless you have done something wrong, why would they waste their time?

    4) The builtin GPS would save lives. For example, people lost in the inhospitable places or trapped by weather (snow storms, floods, tides) could be pinpointed immediately. In this case the tracking could have got help there even quicker and stopped these deaths.

    5) The location specific information could be useful in many situations (traffic directions, etc).

    6) It could help you quickly find a friend in busy places.

    Anyway, if you are that worried about it, don't buy a phone with GPS. Problem solved (or so you think).