Courtesy of Spatial Source

A recently launched, location-based Emergency Alert system has “performed well” in Victoria during this month’s bushfires, according to the Victoria Office of the Emergency Services Commissioner (OESC).

Courtesy of TUAW

I'm an American, but I live in the United Kingdom and travel frequently to foreign countries in Europe. If there's one piece of technology that has most benefited the international traveler in the last five years it's been the iPhone. Having a personal computer in your pocket that lets you interact with all facets of your life from anywhere you are is a godsend. That's not even to mention the thousands of apps aimed at international travels that make exploring cities, translating words and languages, and getting you from the train station or airport to your hotel in one piece as easy as tapping a button. Since the iPhone is such an indispensable piece of travel kit, I'm especially excited to see that Apple has begun work on building a location-based emergency information app.

AppleInsider found the patent continuation, published by the US Patent and Trademark Office, on Thursday. Titled "Location-Based Emergency Information" the patent continuation notes that for the international traveler the process of gathering emergency services information for a foreign local can be both time consuming and confusing. That often leads many travelers to not even look into emergency services information until a problem arises -- causing a potentially fatal delay. From the filing:

"When a person travels abroad, emergencies can occur. For example, the person can become injured in an accident, be a victim of a crime or lose their travel documents. In those situations, having knowledge of contact information for local emergency services or the pertinent consular services can be beneficial."

The patent continuation describes a location-aware "Emergency" app that would offer international travelers quick access to local police, fire or medical assistance. AppleInsider points to one illustration in the patent that shows the Emergency app with a drawer that pulls out and asks the user to select an icon for which local emergency service they would like to contact. The site also speculates that the Emergency app would be useful in a user's home country as well. For example, in the US the app could direct the user to alternate assistance numbers (like 311) instead of dialing 911 for situations that are not true emergencies.

However, there's no hint that Apple's Emergency app will see the light of day any time soon, if ever. Apple holds thousands of patents for products and services which never make it into consumers' hands. This is one patent, however, that could potentially save lives, so I hope we will see it in the App Store eventually.

App developers should be able to quickly get to grips with the newly released iPad mini, and will also be presented with several opportunities, including the creation of location-based apps, according to an industry expert.

The iPad mini, unveiled earlier this week, goes into direct competition with Google’s Nexus 7, Samsung’s Galaxy Tab and Amazon’s Kindle Fire.

While it’s unusual for Apple to follow in the footsteps of its rivals, it’s been reported Apple is concerned about the threat from Microsoft’s Surface tablet, which launches tomorrow. 

Foad Fadaghi, research director at technology analyst firm Telsyte, says there are several things app developers need to consider with regard to the iPad mini.

“I think because of the fact the resolution is the same as the iPad 2, it shouldn’t cause too many challenges for developers,” Fadaghi says.

“With the normal iPad, most people use it in the landscape format. The fact that you can lift [the iPad mini] on one hand means people might use it in the portrait format. 

“That might impact the way people design applications… The other small thing to consider is the iPad mini is a more portable device.”

“It might be more suitable to take around in a small bag or large pocket, which could lend itself to more location-based applications.”

“When things get smaller, it’s likely some new ideas might be generated around location-based apps usage.”

According to Ovum principal analyst Adam Leach, the iPad mini marks a significant shift in Apple’s strategy,

“For the first time in its recent history, it is responding to market pressures from its competitors, namely Google and Amazon, in bringing a smaller tablet to market,” Leach says. 

“Apple in the past has defined new products with new form factors and waited for the market to follow.”

“In this instance, Apple is following the market trend towards smaller, cheaper tablet form factors. This reflects a fundamental change in the way Apple operates.”

According to Phil Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing, the iPad mini is a device unlike any other.

“Others have tried to make tablets smaller than the iPad, and they’ve failed miserably. These are not great experiences,” Schiller said in his demonstration.

Schiller hit out at the Google Nexus in particular.

“The entire Android product is thicker and heavier than the iPad mini even though it has a smaller display,” he said.

“You get a tablet experience on the iPad mini. You get a scaled-up phone experience on the other.”

Today, organizations are placing higher demands on their direct marketing departments. These businesses want to see results quicker and achieve a greater return on investment. So how can direct marketers deliver more effective campaigns while satisfying business needs? It’s easy. Use location-based information – data that contains a reference to person, object or physical place such as a postal code, municipality, street intersection or current whereabouts – as central component of the overall strategy. This information translates into valuable data about customers, potential customers, competitors and placement of store locations. Here’s a look at some of the best practices direct marketers can employ:

Just data
At a minimum, direct marketers should consider adding location-based data to their campaign analytics. That’s because approximately 80% of all business decisions are tied to location. So, obtaining a clear view of a campaign target area through street maps, postal codes or salary bands provides a deeper view of customers and potential customers. From a segmentation perspective, this information is extremely valuable for developing targeted messages. And, at the same time, direct marketers can also gather more intelligence about customers for future campaigns by viewing information about those customers on a physical map. This data works with all distribution methods, including direct mail, social media and other online marketing tactics. The ultimate impact of using location-based data effectively is more sound business decisions and an increase in operational efficiency.

Adopt an approach
Once the direct marketing department is comfortable managing and segmenting its data on an ongoing basis, the next step is to adopt a structured, repeatable approach to the way it manages location-based information on a larger scope. This step involves leveraging marketing automation, customer relationship management and business intelligence software, as well as data warehouse tools, to keep address information accurate and continually updated. Why is this important? It’s because address information changes all the time: subdivisions merge; streets are renamed; municipal boundaries expand or contract; postal codes are reassigned. If the direct marketer doesn’t have current address information, campaigns become an exercise in lost opportunities and costs.

So, once the department establishes and tests an approach, it can slice and dice the most accurate information possible in targeted ways to generate desired campaign results. The repeatable nature of this approach allows for multiple segmenting opportunities within one campaign as well as continued relationship building with customers and potential customers. Additionally, because address information is continually validated as existing and appointed with additional attributes, such as dwelling type and property zoning, direct marketers can expand the scope of their campaigns while maintaining quality. Overall, adopting a structured approach to location-based information promotes quick and efficient campaign execution achieving return-on-investment goals in a timelier manner.

Real time integration
Perfected the structured, repeatable approach? Then, it’s time to integrate location-based information into the direct marketing departments’ – and perhaps even into the overall organizations’ – automated work-flows. Since location is the key to unlocking the power of direct marketing campaigns, building automated processes provides one distinct advantage: It links together multiple databases. Think about large, multi-national organizations. Imagine the hundreds of different databases gathered among them – customers, potential customers, lapsed customers and customers with specific preferences potentially interested in other products or services. Now, picture how easy it would be to execute a direct marketing campaign centrally, allowing for real time decision-making and

incorporating factors such as language differences and precision targeting. And, picture how easy it would be to cross sell and up sell products or services. Another benefit is that real time integration ensures only standardized and validated addresses are entered into a system. This eliminates the information that is incomplete or incorrect. Additionally, the nature of the integrated approach ensures that as one database is all connected databases are updated. 

Develop a direct marketing ecosystem
The final stage in maximizing location-based information for direct marketing purposes is creating a unique ecosystem that ties together business units, partners and suppliers. The ecosystem approach incorporates all the elements discussed above and is ideal for co-branded campaigns or campaigns with dual messages. This approach brings value to each member of the ecosystem and more important, speeds up transactions and the ability to review analytics. It also allows the direct marketer to seamlessly ingest information about new customers, store locations or trade areas into a database, analyzing and sharing them among all members of the ecosystem. In this scenario, big data sources are critical to running marketing analytics while allowing easy sharing of information. Ultimately, everyone benefits from improved business insight and savings in time and money.