Many Location-Based Services (LBS) today require the user to "pull" content down to their mobile devices. "Geofencing"-which detects when a virtual geographic fence is crossed-enables a new form of LBS messaging called GMS (Geographic Messaging Services). GMS pushes location-relevant content to mobile devices. This allows for an exciting new class of services that give mobile users what they want, based on where they are. They can opt in for messages about nearby friends, sporting events, clubs, films, and much more.
Sample GMSP Applications
The Alcatel-Lucent 5130 Geographic Messaging Services Platform (GMSP), which underlies Geoepper, enables a whole new class of location-based services. These include:
- Geopepper Social Networking Application for carriers, a white label service that offers location-driven social networking capabilities for mobile devices, delivering targeted content and friend alerts based on end-user location
- Geopepper Proximity Marketing application, a white label service that can be easily re-branded by a service or content provider, offering location-driven, mobile marketing capabilities to deliver timely information about retail businesses and promotions based on location and pre-defined end user interests
GMSP can also support additional vertical market applications-such as gaming, travel guides, emergency services and asset tracking-that increase the opportunity for generating more revenues.
Some are trying, but "push" LBS is hard! You need to get users' locations frequently to know when they cross geofences, and that eats up network and device resources.
Alcatel-Lucent's 5130 Geographic Messaging Services Platform (GMSP), the industry's leading geofencing engine, solves this problem. We use predictive algorithms (patents filed) to deliver messages at the right time and place, but with significantly less demand on the resources that provide us with location. That allows us to enable mass scale, robust geofencing-based LBS solutions.
The 5130 GMSP API lets application developers register users, create static and moving geofences, and trigger alerts when a geofence is crossed so their application can deliver more personal, relevant content to mobile device users.
API requirements
To use the 5130 GMSP API, application developers need to:
- Run a web server listening at an IP address and Port to which GMSP can post its HTTP responses
- Provide URLs to which the GMSP posts its HTTP responses
- Contact the GMSP Administrator to get a unique application ID (APPID)
- Recommended: The calls should be made over HTTPS for security reasons. In particular, the APP ID should not be shared with any other applications than the one it is assigned to.
Where You Fit In
GMSP API
You can choose between simplicity and standards.
RESTful APIs (parameters passed as part of HTTP POST calls) are simple but not yet standard in the LBS space. WSDL (XML/SOAP) APIs (parameters passed as part of XML objects) are less simple but could be closer to standards like LIF/MLP. Our current API is a RESTful API because:
a) developers are more likely to use it
b) it's easier for us to support
c) LIF/MLP for geofencing is not defined yet so we need to define it anyway
d) the trend is towards laying a simpler API over LIF/MLP.
All calls are made over HTTP (preferably HTTPS) POST to a URL defined by the GMSP and Application. For all the calls made by the application, unless otherwise noted, the GMSP will immediately respond. Depending on the request, the GMSP may respond with one or more delayed responses in the future (e.g., geofence crossing), again using HTTP POST to the application.