An update on location based services: Current state and future prospects

Location based services (LBSs) are now an integral part of wireless communication and mobile enabled service provisioning. In the new Internet of Things (IoT) paradigm, its importance has become even more critical. These services are used to obtain the current location of the mobile phones and other connected devices. LBSs facilitate access to the sensor enabled information around the locations of the connected devices. There are several LBSs in existence such as satellite based positioning which is commonly known as global positioning system (GPS), cellular network based positioning, wireless network based positioning, indoor positioning and several hybrid systems. In the recent years, we have seen the emergence of IoT which can be provided over the cellular and wireless systems as value added services. It has several features which can enable the new initiatives in LBSs. In this paper, we present the recent trends and advances in these technologies. We also present its future prospects.