Location based mobile services in Japan

Location based mobile services in Japan January 19, 2011
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Location Based Mobile Services in Japan�

(version 5 of January 19, 2011)  
 
Gerhard Fasol 
fasol@eurotechnology.com 
Eurotechnology Japan K. K.  
www.eurotechnology.com�

©2011 Eurotechnology Japan KK www.eurotechnology.com


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Executive Summary�

  In July 2001, DoCoMo introduced the first location based information information service in the
world “i-Area”, followed by KDDI/au introducing the first GPS equipped phones in December
2001."
  To enable location information for emergency calls Japan’s General Affairs Ministry ordered
that from April 2007 all 3G phones sold in Japan must be equipped with GPS. Today 97% of all
phones sold in Japan are 3G and therefore equipped with GPS, and it is estimated that about
90% of mobile phones in use in Japan have GPS."
  Based on 90% market penetration of GPS phones, by operator’s ecosystem, strong customer
acceptance and heavy investments, a very vibrant business sector of location based services
has developed in Japan. "
  Location based services include personal navigation (top provider Navitime has about 4 million
subscribers paying monthly subscription fees), location based games (top ranking game
providers have 1.5 million subscribers), and B2B services."
  Japan has invested about US$ 1 billion sofar to implement an augmentation of the US provided
GPS system of satellite based navigation. Japan’s Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS) will
greatly improve resolution and coverage. The first QZSS Satellite “Michibiki” was launched into
orbit on September 11, 2010. Michibiki covers Japan for 8 hours per day, two more satellites
are planned to provide 24 hour service. Experiments demonstrated the determination of
locations with 3 centimeter accuracy at speeds up to 80 km/h. It is estimated that the QZSS
system will enable new industries with a value of about US$ 12 billion/year.�



Agenda�

  Executive summary"
  Determining a mobile phone’s position"
  GPS and Japan’s mobile phones"
  Localization determination as an accessory (API)"
  Market size"
  The main types of LBS"
  How to get from A to B – navigation"
  Location based services on i-Mode"
  i-Area"
  Business-to-business services"
  Selected companies in the LBS sector"
  Summary�



Geo-spatial information systems and
Global Positioning System (GPS)
in Japan�



Position determination, and Global Positioning
System (GPS) for Japan’s Mobile Phones�



Determining the position of a mobile phone�

  The position of a mobile phone can be determined in a
number of different ways:"
  Satellite global positioning system (GPS)"
  Triangulation: the phone’s position is determined by
calculating the ratio’s of radio signal strengths from/to
three radio base stations"
  Relative positioning by integrating over the acceleration
of the phone measured by a three axis accelerometer"
  Signal from in-door antenna units (this method is used
for example in Tokyo’s subway stations)"
  In some cases all these methods are combined to give
the most accurate determination of the phone’s current
position"



Accuracy of location determination�

Service� Method� Representative Accuracy� conditions�
example�

GPS� Calculation A-GPS, GPS� Several meters – Open sky
position using several 10s conditions�
signals from 4 or meters�
more satellites�

Triangulation� Calculate from E-OTD, Several 10s In towns or
the signals from OTDOA, A-FLT� meters – several inside buildings�
3 or more cellular 100s meters�
base stations�

Cell based Determine from Cell ID� Several 100s Inside buildings,
determination� the cell location� meters – 10 km underground,
range� when the two
methods above
cannot be used�



GPS in Japan’s mobile Phones�

  KDDI started to introduce mobile phones with GPS
from December 2001."
  Around 1999/2000 the number of mobile phones
exceeded the number of ﬁxed line connections.
More and more emergency calls were placed from
mobile phones and the location of these mobile
phones was difﬁcult to determine and delayed the
provision of emergency services."
  Japan’s Ministry for Public Management, Home
Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications (SOMUSHO)
ordered, that from April 2007 all 3G phones newly
sold in Japan must include GPS + the functions to
forward the phone’s location to an emergency call
center when an emergency call is placed."



DoCoMo’ first GPS phone�

  DoCoMo introduced the ﬁrst
GPS phone in April 2003,
about 1 ½ years after KDDI/
AU had introduced the ﬁrst
GPS phone."
  Figure on the left shows a non-
functional display version of
the FOMA SA700iS, produced
by SANYO for DoCoMo"



Position determination for emergency calls
from Japan’s mobile phones�



Private companies for emergency management
including emergency calls�



Location determination as an API�


GPS based location determination as an
accessory for other applications�
  The departure
station can be
  Start" automatically
  Destination" determined
  Desired using GPS"
transfer"

  Date"
  Time"
  Arrive or
depart"

  The application above shows a “norikae annai” application: you input the start
location, destination, desired departure or arrival time and the application
determines the route, and transfers."
  Start location can be input directly, or a GPS based search function can ﬁnd the
closest station for you"


Market size�



The main types of LBS�



Position determination for child safety�



How do I get from A to B

Navitime:
Naviwalk – total navigation�



Naviwalk – navigation for walking�



Naviwalk –
Navigation with train travel�



Norikae annai – train travel information by
Sakutto-norikae�



Eco-navigation�



Location based services on i-Mode�

  For more information about DoCoMo and i-Mode:
http://www.eurotechnology.com/store/imode/ �



i-Area

the world’s first location based service�



Google maps on DoCoMo�



B2B GPS services
business applications�



GOOPA – train travel based location services�



Selected companies in the sector:
location based services for mobile phones�



Examples of companies in the sector of
location based services for mobile phones�
  Since about 90% of Japanese mobile phones are equipped with GPS and following
customer uptake a thriving industry has developed. The following pages only
introduce a few representative examples of interesting companies in this ﬁeld."
  Companies fall into several classes, including:"
  Companies owning and producing map data. A very large investment in terms of
money and effort is necessary to create a digital data base of mapping data
covering all of Japan. Recently, mapping data also increasingly include 3D data
and data of the inside of major buildings, and underground structures such as
underground shopping centers and subway railway stations. The entrance
barrier into this ﬁeld is very high, and new entrants such as Google need to
license digital mapping data from established map companies."
  Companies providing navigation services (e.g. Navitime)"
  Companies providing “norikae annai” (train navigation) services"
  Companies including location services in their other business (e.g. restaurant
information services)"
  B2B companies"
  Location based game companies"
  Augmented reality companies (eg. Tonchi-Dot with Sekai-Camera)"
"



Summary�



Executive Summary�
  Location based services for mobile phones are in their tenth year of development
in Japan: DoCoMo’s i-Area services had started in July 2001, followed by KDDI/
AU’s ﬁrst GPS equipped phones in December 2001."
  Since April 2007, all 3G phones sold in Japan must include GPS, and emergency
calls from mobile phones must deliver location information to emergency centers.
Today about 90% of all mobile phones in Japan have GPS, and 97% of all mobile
phones sold. Private companies have started to offer enhanced emergency call
services with subscription charges."
  Over the last 10 years a very vibrant business sector of location based services
for mobile phones has developed in Japan. "
  Location based services include personal navigation, location based games, and
B2B services."
  Japan has invested about US$ 1 billion sofar to build a Quasi-Zenith Satellite
System (QZSS) which will greatly improve resolution and coverage of GPS. The
ﬁrst satellite for this system was launched on September 11, 2010. Experiments
demonstrated the determination of locations with 3 centimeter accuracy at
speeds up to 80 km/h. It is estimated that the QZSS system will enable new
industries with a value of about US$ 12 billion/year.�



More information�

  Blogs"
 http://www.eurotechnology.com/blog/"
 http://www.japanstrategy.com/blog/"
 http://www.eu-japan.com/blog/"
 http://fasol.com/blog/"
  Reports:"
 http://www.eurotechnology.com/store/�



Contact�

  Eurotechnology Japan KK"
 http://www.eurotechnology.com/ "

  CEO: Gerhard Fasol"
 fasol@eurotechnology.com"
 Mobile +81-90-8594-6291�


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