Europeans go cellular

by Angela Doland
The Associated Press

CANNES, France - In Britain, cell phones can track down the nearest pub. Scandinavian teen-agers can use them to find out where their friends are hanging out. And a French company is testing a dating service that will signal when available singles are around.

Throughout Europe, a new mobile technology is gaining ground. It's all about location, location, location.

The technology works two ways - either through global satellite positioning chips embedded in phones or by measuring a caller's distance from cell towers to chart out a position on a map.

Once your cell phone knows exactly where you're calling from, it can point you in the right direction, hook you up with friends or let you play interactive games such as wireless tag.

As the 3GSM World Congress opened yesterday in the French Riviera resort of Cannes, many companies were showing off so-called "location-based" mobile technologies.

One was the French concern Webraska, which offers a service in Britain called "Pub Finder" that provides a list of the nearest watering holes. Once users find a bar, they can round up friends by sending the pub's name and address in a quick text message. The service is available through Orange, a British company.

A similar directory technology is on the market in 1,600 German cities, available through Britain's Vodafone. Working off a technology developed by Troy, N.Y.-based MapInfo Corp., the service helps people map their evenings out by giving directions to the nearest clubs, cinemas, gas stations and cash machines.

Location-based technology has been spurred on by the U.S. government's Enhanced 911 initiative, which requires carriers to make sure emergency services can pinpoint the location of distressed callers on cell phones to within 300 yards. The system slowly is being put into place - after delays, most U.S. wireless carriers promise it for this summer - and a similar initiative is under way in Europe.

But compared to the United States, Europe has been quicker to see how the technology could be a moneymaker, not just a lifesaver.

Ben Wood, a senior telecommunications analyst with Gartner in London, said although most location-based services help people track down taxis, hotels and restaurants, "I think you're more on the money with games, or things that are community-based."

One location-based tag game is available in parts of Scandinavia and is soon to be released in Ireland. The game, developed by a Swedish company called "It's Alive," has people chasing each other through the streets, virtually gunning down complete strangers who are playing the same game. The company wasn't on display at Cannes, but its partners were, including Boulder, Colo.-based SignalSoft.

SignalSoft had 14- to 24-year-olds in mind when it created a product to let people see where their friends are hanging out.

Using a cell phone or the Internet, users can zero in on their friends, find out which neighborhood they're in and how far away they are. Those who want a little privacy can make themselves "invisible" by logging off the system.

Several companies are working on dating services. Unlike the Internet, which often creates long-distance attachments, location-based mobile services would scout out compatible singles in the same city, neighborhood or restaurant.