Developers: Locate Service Update

Sometimes GPS signals go low and navigation stops and you too. RIM introducing brand-new feature which is capable to locate you through the nearby cell tower information. BlackBerry Locate Service is free for developers to use GPS-free locating service.

Users can be indoors with no GPS coverage, but your app will still be able to guide them to restaurants or points of interest (POI) around them. Although the accuracy of the fixes obtained from the Geolocation service may not always be as high as with GPS, it has use cases for apps that require highly accurate GPS fixes as well as apps that do not. Apps that require high accuracy can use this service to quickly show the user an approximate location while it waits for a more accurate location fix using GPS. This can offer a huge user experience improvement. For applications that do not require high accuracy, this service can be leveraged as a simple yet effective mechanism to provide location information.

Geolocation using cell towers

Quickly pinpoint user locations based on proximity to cell towers. Locate Service doesn’t require GPS, making it useful whenever people are inside buildings or in other areas where GPS availability is limited or absent.

GPS

For subscribers with GPS-capable BlackBerry smartphones, deliver enhanced features in apps that orient users to points of interest and direct them to specific locations.

Geocoding and reverse geocoding

Geocoding provides location coordinates—latitude and longitude—based on an address. Reverse geocoding turns location coordinates (expressed in latitude and longitude) into contextual details such as a street address, city, state, country or postal code.

Source : BlackBerry Developer’s Blog