Google goes Mobile

Interesting move from Google - on Monday offered mobile phone users local map services, including directions, search results, business locations, and contact names. Google Local for Mobile includes satellite imagery from the Google Earth and permits users to zoom in and out on a specific location, move in all directions, and drag the maps around.

Even if Google Local for Mobile is far from a mature location service (where in most cases you need a GPS device and your mobile phone) as used today, for application developers like Wayfinder or Tomtom this may be the begin of the end. To consumers, the good news is that if you have a mobile phone with AGPS* (Assisted Global Positioning Service) functionality (like the Motorola A920) and Google decides to implement the technology behind their servers them some software developers will be out of business. The bad news is that AGPS is not a common feature in all phones and it may take a while until this becomes generally available to everyone.

In any case, to try the service on your (java-enabled) mobile phone you can go to www.google.com/glm - Have a great tour!
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* - A-GPS differs from regular GPS by adding another element to the equation, the Assistance Server. In regular GPS networks there is only GPS satellites and GPS Receivers. In A-GPS networks, the receiver, being limited in processing power and normally under less than ideal locations for position fixing, communicates with the assistance server that has high processing power and access to a reference network. Since the A-GPS receiver and the Assistance Server share tasks, the process is quicker and more efficient than regular GPS, albeit dependent on cellular coverage.
Assisted GPS describes a system where outside sources, such as assistance server (Mobile Location Server) via a network, help a GPS receiver perform the tasks required to make range measurements and position solutions. The assistance server has the ability to access information from the reference network and also has computing power far beyond that of the GPS receiver. In this case, the assistance server communicates with the GPS receiver on the mobile phone on a network. With assistance from the network, the receiver can operate more quickly and efficiently than it would unassisted, because a set of tasks that it would normally handle is shared with the assistance server. The resulting AGPS system boosts performance beyond that of the same receiver in a stand-alone mode.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AGPS