Location-based Live Search

For the first time Frank’s choice of Sprint may actually be a good thing. The mobile phone provider is rolling out Live Search for their phones which is now location-based. Apparently this isn’t an exclusive deal with Sprint and Microsoft, but Sprint is the first to implement the technology which isn’t GPS-based so it should be usable on most phones. The article says it is done with cell tower triangulation, but I am wondering if it can also take advantage of GPS/aGPS to enhance location accuracy. At the same time, you don’t need an exact location since you are simply doing a search for results that are spatially relevant, not a search for where you are. Either way we will let you know if they implemented it locally on this week’s podcast after Frank tries it out.

Sprint, Microsoft roll out location-based Live Search – Engadget