Being socially mobile could take on a new meaning if the new wave of GPS-equipped smart phones is an indication of the allied location-based services (LBS) about to hit the Internet.

GPS-equipped phones have been slow coming to the market, despite the obvious utility. One of the reasons has been the usual chicken-and-egg scenario: industry has been asking "If we build it will they come?" Nokia, the world's largest cell phone manufacturer, sparked off the LBS race by paying $8.1 billion in 2007 for Navteq, a US digital map supplier. This June the company announced it would launch a new series of GPS-enabled cell phones that will work in conjunction with Navteq's new pedestrian city map service.

With the huge interest shown in online social networking, one that really did not exist until the category was created by entrepreneurs with foresight and a bit of luck, LBS is being seen as the next killer application. LBS do not have to depend on satellite navigation only.

For example a person's position could be worked out by a device that triangulates Wi-Fi signals or cell phone signals. This would allow a wider area of coverage, since GPS does not work very well indoors but Wi-Fi does.

A few weeks ago I was talking at a conference on the subject with some of the entrepreneurs involved in the LBS race. With about three major global satellite navigation systems being constructed by Europe, Russia and China, apart from the US' GPS system, the infrastructure is falling in place both in space and on the ground to begin social networking on a more physical level.

For example entrepreneurs foresee a time, within the next two years, when people will voluntarily switch from off to on tracking, allowing their friends or anyone to see if they are in the neighbourhood.

Wait! That day is already here! I was watching Top Gear on TV the other day and Stephen Fry, the Englishman about town, was showing off his GPS-equipped iPhone and a new application called Grindr. The application coupled with GPS allowed him to find other gay people in the neighbourhood. "Look," said Fry. "There is one eight miles away." This was a strange but funny topic to out on Top Gear, a fast-driving car programme, but one that demonstrates LBS is already in use, though not currently in the mass way that industry is hoping the market will achieve soon. For example Fry was hoping to find a fellow user in the Top Gear audience.

LBS technologies and services are starting to be embedded in vehicle telematics, personal navigation devices and mobile phones, along with the software and services necessary to gain consumer acceptance.

Companies such as Navteq and Tele Atlas are creating the detailed maps required for pedestrian navigation. Cellular network providers such as Vodafone hope to leverage their networks and huge customer bases to make cell phones the platform of choice for LBS. Vodafone is in the process of building an online applications store similar to the one Apple created for the iPhone and iPod. Developers will be able to contribute satellite navigation software for Vodafone's mobile network and sell them directly to customers.

Fabrizio De Liberali, Vodafone's senior product manager, spoke about how the company is marketing LBS as a business tool. Businesses will be able to use satellite navigation in conjunction with productivity tools and applications to improve efficiency (and track employees) and make the working environment safer, including for those working in the field, he said.

However most believe social networking in the LBS market will be the most lucrative area. Sites such as IRLConnect and Open Street Map, along with iPhone apps such as Rummble, have already taken to the field. Open Street Map is especially interesting as its services depend on a network of GNSS-equipped mobile users to update their maps in real time, reflecting changes or new features on the ground. Tele Atlas, a competitor to Nokia's Navteq, has launched a similar service to capture user-generated map content.

Representatives of Open Street Map and Tele Atlas both said users are making thousands and sometimes millions of inputs a day to correct or add data, indicating that people are keen to have precise maps that are rich in features. Other providers are creating applications for mobile-to-mobile social networking, allowing users to find each other in a city. Check out www.irlconnect.com for example, which uses Wi-Fi positioning to help with locating friends. Frank Schuil, the site's founder and CEO, foresees the site moving into mapping the location for news, photos, travel, and social needs, in competition with Google Maps.

But rather than competing with a giant, Schuil is waiting for the social mapping wave. He believes market takeoff will need always-on live Internet streaming everywhere. Presence today means not just filling in a Facebook comment or Twitter. Presence is being there and getting mapped in a certain location.

"Presence will ignite social mapping," he says. "Social mapping will evolve mirrored virtuality." There are lots of technological, legal and privacy issues yet to be worked out. But those issues are natural in a new and fast evolving market. Let the river flow I say.

Send any comments to elamin.ahmed@gmail.com