Mobile Magic: The Saatchi and Saatchi Guide to Mobile Marketing and Design

Chapter 7: Location, Location, Very Specific Location

We’ve grown to depend on computers for almost all of our location-based information. How often do you search for a restaurant, for example, or check driving routes before going on a trip? A lot of websites now have location-based features like store finders or identifier numbers and trackers. These features are usually powered by a large, constantly updated mapping system like Google Maps or Bing, and usually users need to enter their location by hand or give a locating marker like a postal code to receive any kind of meaningful output data. Having location-based services is hugely important on a mobile device, when users’ own locations are constantly changing.

Happily, the needs of location-based marketing play to the strengths of mobile devices. Most mobile devices, from phones and tablets to in-car systems have built-in location finding features such as GPS (Global Positioning System) that can automatically provide apps and functions within a mobile web browser with highly specific location data. Many phones come with Google or Bing or an equivalent mapping app preloaded. So as long as your phone has a connection, either via a phone signal or Wi-Fi or preferably both in tandem, it often has a better idea of where you are than you do.

So on the user side, it’s easier to engage with location-based services from mobile than from ...