PlaceEngine – Sony’s non-GPS location technology

Back at the beginning of June, Sony released its PlaceEngine technology for use on its portable handheld device, the PSP, in Japan. PlaceEngine uses Wi-Fi signals to determine locations, but adds a twist by relying on the help of its users to add to and refine the accuracy of the Wi-Fi locations. PlaceEngine isn’t the first time we’ve seen this technology (Skyhook Wireless comes to mind), but with the outlet to the gaming users via Sony’s PSP, it is taking a different route to the consumer market.

The PlaceEngine website is in Japanese, but Digital World Tokyo has a good summary of the technology in its post about the Sony Computer Science Lab’s annual Open House in Tokyo and a nice image of the PlaceEngine display.

I’m posting about PlaceEngine today because the technology is generating a lot of buzz outside Sony gaming circles, and Digital World Tokyo also reports that Japanese mapping company Edia, which provides navigation software for many devices in the Japanese market, will be releasing a new software product, Pro Atlas Travel Guide, that will incorporate Sony’s technology and make use of the collaborative mapping functionality of PlaceEngine. It will first be available on UMD disk for the PSP in Japan, but expectations are that Edia may also incorporate PlaceEngine functionality into future release of its navigation software for other Wi-Fi-enabled devices such as smartphones.

Also via Product Reviews Net and I4U News

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