How Bluedot is Transforming Location Services
by FILIP ELDIC
Co-Founder and Executive Director, Bluedot Innovation
Bluedot Innovation was founded with one mission: to solve persistent problems in location services and usher in a new generation of location aware applications that can connect people with their environment with unprecedented accuracy. The single largest problem with location services to date is the battery drain a device incurs when utilizing GPS. As anyone who has used Google turn-by-turn navigation knows, GPS will completely drain the battery of most smartphones within about 2 to 3 hours.
Location Services on the Market Fall Short
So how has this problem been solved to date?
One option is to install hardware in these locations to avoid using GPS. These include large WiFi installations or BLE beacons. However, when there are too many locations to cover or when a company does not own these locations, this becomes impossible. Even when possible, often the logistics, cost and upkeep of hardware based solutions hinder many use cases.
Current hardware free technologies such as geofencing try to solve the problem of GPS battery drain by simply reducing the accuracy with which a device is tracked.
The Android Operating System states that geofences should be no smaller that 330 to 500 feet (100 to 150 meters) and has a hard limit of 100 geofences that can be set. Similarly, iOS Core Location needs an iPhone to move at least 650 feet (200 meters) before it can monitor if you have entered a geofence and its technology is limited to a maximum of 20 geofences.
For Bluedot this would not do. Even though we were repeatedly told that solving the trade-off between accuracy, battery drain and hardware was impossible, like any startup worth its salt, we set out to do the impossible.
Bluedot's Solution: High Accuracy, Low Battery Drain
We have worked tirelessly for 2 years on ways to enhance the accuracy of geofencing without ruining the user experience by draining their battery and ensuring the system would scale without hardware.
So, what was the result of our hard work?
With Bluedot’s patented GeolineTM technology, smartphones can perform any action when crossing a single thin line, rather than entering a large area. Also it is possible to create highly precise geofences measuring as small as 17 feet (5 meters) in diameter. This means you can connect with users at the precise location you need to and not spam them when they are only somewhere in the vicinity.
We’ve also eliminated the limit to the number of geofences that can be set. Whether you’re a developer who needs to monitor 10 geofences around event venues in the city or an enterprise company that needs 100 million geofences around the world, Bluedot’s technology has you covered.
Bluedot's Technology in Action:
Bluedot’s Point SDK delivers unprecedented location awareness, over 20 times more accurate than iOS or Android with no requirement for hardware. This means that organizations and users can connect, interact and deliver or use services in the most relevant locations at global scale. Bluedot also enables applications to segment which action will occur at a location for each user based on any condition they can imagine, such as the weather, customer behavior or any other data point imaginable.Additionally, as a part of our commitment to enhancing the customer experience, Bluedot’s technology does not track end users or collect any personal information about them.
So What Does Bluedot Actually Do?
Technically, we vastly improve the accuracy of location services without the need for hardware, without significant battery drain and without infringing on customer privacy, connecting each individual person with their environment like never before.
More importantly, we power a range of solutions that will transform the way we use mobile phones on a daily basis and usher in a new era of convenience and services.
To see how Bluedot works, book a demo today.