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On
the Road to Dynamic Space
by
Mark Sedenquist
Writing
about wireless communications remains a frustrating challenge.
All I wanted to do back in 1994 was to log on to the Internet
from anywhere in North America using wireless technology.
Until I actually tried it, it seemed like a modest goal, something
people in magazine advertisements had been doing for years.
But they weren't, and, for the most part, I am still pursuing
this grail. To be fair, remarkable advances have been made.
In order to maintain a healthy perspective on these gains,
and to make useful predictions about the future of wireless
communications, I have coined the phrase "Dynamic Space."
Here is my working definition of Dynamic Space:
1.
Dynamic Space is a user-defined location that exists in
a specific physical and/or virtual place. It is independent
of the real-time, three-dimensional location of the user.
2.
Users can be single individuals or groups, families, companies,
governments, trade organizations, etc.
3.
Communication of most information among users occurs in
Dynamic Space, where the exact mechanism of the wireless
transfer is invisible and irrelevant to the user in the
same way that you can click
here and see a picture of Marvin the Road Dog. You don't
have to know or care why his face will appear on your monitor
just because you clicked your mouse.
In
other words, Dynamic Space is an invisible switchboard of
infinite size. The Internet is one of its components. With
this vision of Dynamic Space in mind, here's where I think
we stand on the road to wireless connectivity.
My
recent experience at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in
Las Vegas taught me that, fundamentally, it doesn't matter
whether I can unravel the mysteries of all of the conflicting
wireless standards, protocols or platforms. The more important
questions are, "Does X, Y or Z actually perform as expected?"
And perhaps more importantly, "Is this a service that
really will lead to the development of Dynamic Space?"
A
dazzling array of electronic gizmos and gadgets debuted at
CES this year. Many are designed to enable in-vehicle computing
and telematics. Since telematics enjoys a variety of definitions,
I am using it here to mean the means of delivering information
and entertainment in any form to a mobile user. Information,
including Internet content, graphical displays, and human
voice may be provided by CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, Dynamic Software,
voice recognition programs or live humans at a call center.
Telematic
capabilities can include:
- Navigational
services, (e.g. GPS)
- Audio/video
(including DVD, AM/FM/SDARS/CD)
- Concierge
services for routing, purchasing services and merchandise
- Internet
content services, including modified Web pages and e-mail
- Voice-
recognition programs
- Vehicle
performance and monitoring devices
- Real-time
road condition reports
- Connectivity
devices including cellular telephones, satellite communicators,
PDA's, and other personal informational devices including
specialized data-enabled pagers.
There
are two forces driving the advancement of telematics, government
legislation and "P- Commerce," a new bit of jargon
meaning location-based marketing. The government's contribution
to telematic innovation is the FCC E-911 Phase II Compliance
Regulation. As you may know, when you call 911 from an ordinary
telephone, your location is provided automatically to the
emergency operator. The new law requires wireless phones to
provide the same information to 911 operators. The wireless
telephone carriers in the United States have about eight months
to submit their planned implementation schedule to meet this
requirement. The deadline by which all wireless phones must
be equipped with locator chips is (as things stand now) December
31, 2004. There are two principal strategies being employed
to meet this FCC requirement.
The
FCC, being a governmental body, is subject to the usual behavior
of politics negotiation and compromise. The December, 2004,
deadline may well have no teeth. But consider the ramifications
of locator chips when combined with information-gathering
devices imbedded in other telematic devices. Imagine the power
of a commercial vendor who can a) locate a consumer stuck
in a traffic jam and b) offer her the exact goods and services
that she might be willing to purchase at that exact moment
based upon a profile gathered from her driving habits and
other purchasing data. Further, imagine that a variety of
data centers have been accumulating information about the
maintenance needs of her vehicle and can offer time and location-specific
marketing for merchandise and services that she has indicated
a willingness to purchase in the past.
This
is one of many commerce scenarios that are being studied and
hundreds of applications that are being readied for the implementation
of "P-commerce." The P means place-specific, and
there are many explanations for why all of us should embrace
this apparent invasion of our privacy, most of which center
around safety and convenience. While I am certainly an advocate
for telematic applications, I also want to ensure that I will
have the ability to consciously elect to engage the location-specific
chip in any of my wireless devices. I have serious reservations
about allowing anyone carte blanche information as to my whereabouts
and my tire pressure.
I
had the good fortune to try several of these telematic devices
at the CES show. Not all of the services are fully enabled,
since some of the underlying technologies have yet to be perfected,
and in some cases, not much more that the concept has been
developed. But several interesting devices have actually hit
the road. The one aspect that does seem to be more or less
constant is that nearly all of these options cost around $2000.
For more information, check out the telematic offerings on
the following websites:
There
is a great deal of concern about telematic devices distracting
the attention and focus of the driver. As a result, you will
find that many of the applications are based on voice-activated
menus. Another solution that I would like to see considered
would be the ability to allow the dashboard display visible
to the driver to display a wider range of information. I'd
like, for example, to toggle between my tachometer, a route
map, and a chart showing local weather.
NavTech
is the supplier of map data used by most telematic application
providers. In 2000 they will be updating their "Points
of Interest" database with material provided by Fodor's.
This gives me the opportunity for some commentary. While the
editors of Fodor's may make excellent suggestions about places
to visit, it is possible that I might want a different perspective
say for instance data from www.RoadTripAmerica.com
or www.roadsideamerica.com.
In other words, I'd like to have the whole Web at my disposal,
not just the contents of one travel guide.
The
navigational programs are remarkable in their application
of the GPS technologies but most folks I know do not require
that much assistance in reading a road map. In most cases,
a commuter will know the short-cuts and appropriate routing
in much more detail than even a knowledgeable computer. Real-time
road advisories about changing road conditions are still several
years away, but the efforts of companies like InfoMove are
very interesting. The types of road warrior services that
I would like to see incorporated into the dream list would
include real-time graphic displays of weather maps detailing
severe weather locations and voice updates from the radio
channels of school bus drivers. The 150,000 miles we have
spent driving around the USA over the last six years taught
us that, for obvious reasons, school bus driver channels can
provide the best source of actual road conditions in a given
area.
A
virtual blizzard of products and developments were unveiled
at CES, and I'll be sharing more thoughts and comments in
the weeks to come. This is truly an interesting time to be
participating in the development of the wireless world. One
word before I go BlueTooth. Bluetooth technology is one of
the bits of glue that will enable this world of wireless to
develop, and I'll be talking about it in my next column. In
the meantime, thanks for sharing this journey of discovery
on the road to Dynamic Space!
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