25% of positioning solutions in 2014 will be alternative solutions: A-GPS, Wi-Fi, Cell-ID

Many next-generation LBS applications such as social networking, local search, advertising, and geo-tagging are expected to be used in urban and indoor environments where GPS either underperforms in terms of fix times or accuracy, or fails altogether. So alternative positioning technologies such as Wi-Fi and Cell-ID will become increasingly important. Since no single positioning technology can provide this, the future will be about hybrid positioning systems, combining A-GPS, Cell-ID, Wi-Fi, cellular, motion sensors, and even TV broadcast and proximity technologies such as Bluetooth, NFC and RFID. A-GPS, Wi-Fi and Cell-ID will be the winning combination offering accuracy, availability, interoperability and short fix times at low cost. It will represent 25% of all positioning solutions by 2014. Stand-alone Cell-ID and/or Wi-Fi will remain important in regions with low GPS handset penetration, ABI Research said.