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As individuals and industries around the world continue to feel the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, location-based services like LocationSmart are rising to the occasion with unique services that solve unique challenges.
With their innovative and patent-protected services, LocationSmart is helping clients comply with government regulations, gain and maintain location insights about critical assets, receive 24/7 visibility into their supply chains, and more. These services save time and money for clients, ultimately lessening the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
About LocationSmart
LocationSmart is a worldwide leader in Location APIs with a 25-year track record of success. It offers a robust platform that delivers critical location data, consent management, compliance services, and device profiling. It provides the easiest to use and most comprehensive multi-source location platform for local, hyper-local and context-aware application development.
Founded as TechnoCom Corporation in 1995, the company now does business as LocationSmart in Carlsbad, California. Since its inception, it has been a premier provider of mission-critical use cases for industries including transportation and logistics, financial services, gaming and lottery, and personal emergency response.
The enterprise mobility platform offers core location technologies that span indoor and outdoor use for any connected device, platform, or network. LocationSmart serves start-ups and Fortune 500 customers, delivering the broadest reach and largest global footprint among geolocation services.
Impact of COVID-19 on Location-Based Services Market
LocationSmart is one of the key players in the location-based services industry. The term “location-based services” refers to software services that use real-time geographic data to provide essential information, security, and sometimes entertainment to users.
The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted almost every industry, including many industries that utilize location-based services. For example, manufacturing, transportation and logistics, and tourism and hospitality have experienced significant effects.
However, location-based services offer solutions to some of the challenges currently facing these industries, even transforming some of these challenges into new opportunities. For casinos turning to iGaming to recover some of their lost profits, for instance, location-based services can help validate transactions and ensure compliance with local and state laws.
At the same time, industries like healthcare, utilities, and energy are increasingly adopting location-based services to creatively address new problems such as contact tracing or predictive modeling for forecasting service and adapting to shifts in user mobility.
The location-based services market is projected to grow from USD 17.8 billion to USD 39.2 billion by 2025. Factors expected to drive this growth include increasing demand for industry applications, as well as growing demand for geomarketing and the widespread use of smartphones, social media, and location-based apps. Location-based services meet important needs in a changing world, from securing online financial transactions to providing critical information during the current pandemic.
LocationSmart’s Services and COVID-19
Medical experts recommend social distancing as one of the most effective ways to slow the spread of COVID-19. Many brick and mortar businesses are closed, and many people are spending most of their time at home.
As a result, e-commerce has become even more popular, and the transportation industry even more vital. Consumers are increasingly making basic purchases online, including grocery and restaurant deliveries, books, clothing, makeup, and more. Increased demand and the challenges of the pandemic have slowed supply chains, but the transportation industry has remained a thriving and essential business.
With so many new and unusual issues to manage, companies need reliable tracking of their goods, in addition to any measures that increase efficiency and reduce costs. LocationSmart helps companies track the delivery of important goods reliably, including the delivery of lab samples, personal protective equipment, and other sensitive items that require meticulous monitoring. Its services also save much-needed time and money for LocationSmart partners.
Meanwhile, industries like hospitality and tourism have seen business decline or come to a standstill as people avoid large public gatherings. When possible, these industries must adapt to remote work and off-site fulfilment to stay afloat. For the on-site gaming industry, a viable solution is to become more virtual, and LocationSmart is supporting gambling and lottery system operators in making this transition safely and securely.
Secure and Reliable Shipping with LocationSmart
Many LocationSmart clients rely on technology like its Global Site ID (GSID) and multi-source location solutions to provide consistent location intelligence, ensuring secure and reliable transportation. Partners benefit from enhanced productivity, reduction of fuel, labor and insurance costs, minimized potential for theft, eliminated operational and service-related expenses, and a consistent level of service throughout the supply chain lifecycle.
During the pandemic, the ability to cut costs and save time has become especially important. Additionally, LocationSmart partners know that asset tracking and security are taken care of, allowing them to focus on other vital tasks and challenges unique to the current situation.
One partner, a globally recognized leader in transportation, relies on LocationSmart for shipments containing critical content such as lab samples, important documents, and sensitive equipment. These shipments require strict monitoring that includes location, temperature, shock, vibration, tamper detection, and more.
This partner utilizes a combination of GPS and LocationSmart’s GSID for optimum device insights and reliable monitoring. The company turns to GSID to maintain location visibility to enhance location reliability when GPS location is not available or to minimize use of on-board GPS hardware to preserve battery power. With LocationSmart, the global transportation leader has a multi-layered solution that ensures its customers receive the efficiency and security they expect.
Benefits of Location-Based Services for Transportation
Location-based services offer numerous advantages for transportation, including optimized load tracking, system-wide visibility, data-rich insights, and the ability to track without GPS.
Location-enabled devices and sensors can be fixed to shipping containers, pallets, boxes, and more. Drivers’ mobile phones can also be used to track real-time location through mobile apps or web browser applications. By eliminating the need for potentially unsafe, time-consuming and costly check calls, companies save money and time while enhancing road safety.
Additionally, the ability to track shipments and assets improves system-wide visibility and communication between stakeholders. Instant location of shipments translates to more accurate estimated arrival and delivery times. Dispatchers can utilize location data for efficient load finding, driver assignments, and rerouting drivers in transit if necessary.
Location-based services also provide valuable insight into performance and efficiency. This is helpful for reporting and compliance, as well as assessing maintenance needs, reviewing fuel consumption, choosing new routes, and identifying gaps in the transit lifecycle. Information that cut costs and boosts efficiency is especially necessary in the midst of a global pandemic.
Finally, LocationSmart uses GSID to provide location intelligence even when GPS is not available. GPS can be blocked by physical obstructions and may consumer precious battery power of untethered devices. The multi-source service of GSID ensures maximum coverage, and it allows businesses to better guarantee quality service and tracking to their customers.
LocationSmart and the Gaming Industry
In addition to providing secure, reliable, and efficient shipping, LocationSmart is supporting the gaming industry in reducing financial damage from COVID-19.
Like most of the hospitality industry, casino businesses have been deeply affected by COVID-19 and the resulting social distancing practices. Both revenue and attendance are down, and it’s likely that people will remain wary of travel and large crowds for some time.
Online gambling or sports betting is legal in a number of states—such as New Jersey, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Delaware—and offers casinos in these states with a viable solution for the financial damage to on-site gambling. However, online gambling does come with unique challenges. Strict regulations restrict online gambling to specific regions, states, or countries. To ensure full compliance and verification, companies must be able to reliably locate their users and control access accordingly. This is where LocationSmart’s services come into play.
Geolocation Services
Geolocation is used to verify that a player is located within the authorized jurisdictional boundary before bets and transactions are accepted. At the time of transaction, players must give permission for location data to be accessed.
Their location is then verified using data gathered from the player’s device. If the player is not within the authorized boundary, then the transaction is not approved.
Verification sources include Wi-Fi signals, IP location, GPS, Cellular information, device profiling, and properly tailored jurisdictional boundaries or geofences. To achieve compliance, casino businesses need a layered approach to location intelligence that involves multiple verification factors.
LocationSmart is a top source of device location verification for gaming compliance and fraud prevention. As the first provider to launch location for iGaming in Nevada and Delaware, the provider is an established and trusted partner to the gaming industry.
Location Verification with LocationSmart
LocationSmart verifies location using a variety of factors, including IP intelligence data. Although IP intelligence data vendors vary in their technologies and approaches, LocationSmart uses data only from sources that meet the highest standards.
Through web browser location, LocationSmart offers an additional layer of location intelligence. Browser location uses cell site, Wi-Fi, and GPS, depending on what technology is the most accurate and accessible at the time of use.
LocationSmart also uses enhanced patron intelligence data to determine if the user’s device can be trusted based on previous and current activity. This determination is made by evaluating VPN use, whether the device is the same device typically used by the customer, if the user has traveled an unrealistic distance in a short period of time, and more.
Compliance
After verifying the user’s location, online gaming operators must compare the user’s location against approved geographic boundaries for the transaction. LocationSmart performs compliance checks to support gaming operators in following regulatory requirements.
Operators collaborate with LocationSmart to configure rule-based geofences and zones. Once the zone is defined, a player’s app can pinpoint the player’s location and submit the latitude and longitude with the zone reference to the API. Compliance checks can include browser location, IP geolocation, and mobile app derived location. This robust approach to location verification ensures compliance and helps gaming operators continue earning revenue during the coronavirus pandemic.
LocationSmart Privacy
LocationSmart insists on the highest levels of privacy protections, exceeding even the most rigorous industry guidelines. Customers and their users have a variety of privacy controls to manage access to location information. For example, customers that access end-user location information must maintain explicit consent policies, and their users may decline sharing this information at any time. If previously granted, users may revoke sharing their location information at any time.
Giving end users control of their location information maintains trust and limits liabilities for LocationSmart customers. When end users know why and how their location information will be used, they feel more comfortable with the information they provide and the transactions they complete. Transparency also deters potential fraudsters.
Final Thoughts
LocationSmart continues to lead the way in providing services that its partners need to survive and thrive during the COVID-19 pandemic.
This includes equipping the vital transportation industry with secure and reliable tracking, and the strict monitoring of sensitive items like lab samples. LocationSmart’s services free up business owners and managers to focus on other pressing needs, all while saving time and cutting costs.
Additionally, LocationSmart is supporting the gaming industry in transitioning to more virtual gaming. Virtual gaming requires compliance with strict regulations, and LocationSmart provides the location verification and compliance checks that gaming operators need to ensure applicable laws are followed. With the ability to offer online gaming as an alternative, casinos can recover some of the lost revenue resulting from the pandemic.
For all partners, LocationSmart provides highly secure and private location-based services that build confidence and trust with consumers. In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, all individuals and businesses could use more certainty, reliability, and predictability. LocationSmart delivers on all counts.
