I am in Madrid at a conference on satellite navigation. What is sure is the cell phone will be transformed into some sort of location device, that will be more or less precise depending on who it is intended for and the environment in which it is used.

In the field of satellite navigation, new systems are being put in operation by the European Union, Russia, China and the US. The current US GPS signal available to the public is accurate, more or less, to within five to 13 metres. This level of accuracy is usually good enough for most standard uses, such as navigating a car from one city to another, or within a city itself. But for such tasks where lives may be at stake, such as navigating a ship through a narrow passage, landing an airplane, or guiding a blind pedestrian you need location accuracy to within a metre.

In Europe, the EGNOS satellite system is set up to do just that. The system, which is already operational, brings location accuracy to within a metre, and in some cases, to within centimetres. EGNOS augments the GPS signal by adjusting it to fix the inaccuracy. EGNOS also provides signal integrity, in the sense it checks whether there are any faults in the satellites themselves. Integrity is also needed for applications where lives may be at stake.

However, the full EGNOS signal only covers Europe and part of northern Africa. Bermuda just falls within the signal range of two of EGNOS's three satellites. For pinpoint accuracy you need three satellites to fix where you are.

EGNOS is the precursor to Europe's Galileo satellite navigation system, which is due to become operational in 2013. Meanwhile the US, Russia and China are all working on improving their satellite navigation systems or are in the process of creating new networks.

Now these systems are coming into operation, the task ahead is to find out how to exploit them. Many private companies are trying to figure this out. And here again, a lot of elements have to fall into place for mass market acceptance.

At the Madrid conference, Pia Vuohelainen, partner manager at NAVTEQ, a provider of mapping services, had more than some thoughts on the future. NAVTEQ, a subsidiary of Nokia, is actively attempting to create just such a market. I can now appreciate Nokia's vision in buying NAVTEQ over a year ago.

"We want to provide the maps that will drive the mobile world," Ms Vuohelainen said. To do that, a number of things have to happen.

More mobile phones need to be equipped with a global navigation satellite system receiver. Currently about 38 percent of smart phones are GPS-enabled, even less can receive the EGNOS signal, since that system only recently became operable.

What is interesting however is only half of their owners know they have phones that are GPS capable, and only four percent have used the feature, Ms Vuohelainen said. There are a number of reasons users are holding back from using the service, even if they know they have GPS-enabled phones.

One, is cost. The industry has not figured out a cost structure. Ms Vuohelainen believes the market may pay for itself through advertising, although a number of charging schemes are already in use around the world. Roaming charges will also have to come down. People tend to shy away from extra charges, especially if they have old-style alternatives, such as maps.

The next important need in the market is better maps. NAVTEQ's current maps contain about 260 attributes for each road segment. Even this level of detail is not enough for pedestrian use. Now, NAVTEQ is sending people out to walk the city roads of major cities, adding more details, such as the location of metro entrances or where a street bench might be located.

"Women with their prams will be able to go to the metro and know which entrance has an escalator," she said.

Other content is also being added, such as live traffic data, public transport schedules, and even weather information. A location service is being developed so friends can find each other easily, if both want to do so.

"We must create the content to get people to start using it four or five times a day, which is what advertisers want," Ms Vuohelainen says. "Content addition is important to keep the database interesting. We must also understand how people operate. For example, most people do not want a voice giving directions while they are walking in the street."

The tipping point for mass market acceptance?

"I would assume it will take a couple years to get to mass market applications," she says. "But we are still in very low numbers and there is a huge upside."

As an aside another speaker noted that live, outdoor games are in the process of being created using GPS-enabled phones, so do not be surprised if in two to three years you see a group of people acting crazy on a street corner. They are only attempting to kill Morg, or some other fantasy character.

Now, that would be funny, if slightly alarming.

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