Location-Based Services: Back to the Future

Gainesville, Florida, 10 March 2 012. Today, the Mobile Location- Based Services Summit hosted a panel entitled "What Was Wrong with First-Generation Location-Based Services?" The panel chair, Sumi Helal of the University of Florida, invited two world-class experts in LBS history and technology to discuss the topic: Paolo Bellavista of the University of Bologna and Axel Kupper of the University of Munich. The panel discussed the popularity of today\´s LBSs and analyzed their distinguishing aspects in comparison with first-generation LBSs. The panel was anything but controversial, with all panelists in total agreement on what initially went wrong and why today\´s LBSs work. They analyzed how the failure unfolded to set the stage for a major paradigm shift in LBS business and technology and noted the milestones that shaped today\´s LBSs.