For taxis it's location, location, location

NEWS

The art of hailing a London taxi is being turned into a science with a new service that is one of the first to make commercial use of mobile phone location data. Several hundred black London taxis have been fitted out with GPS receivers, mobile phones and data transmitters that will eventually allow them to be hailed by anybody in the capital with a mobile phone. Using mobile phone location data, which can pinpoint a mobile phone to within a couple of hundred metres, service operator Zingo can hook up the caller to the closest available taxi. The idea, according to Zingo managing director Mark Fawcett, is that the potential passenger can then talk directly to the cab driver, describe where they need picking up from and where they want to go. If there is no taxi available then Zingo says so. Instead of a mini-cab controller, a computer handles the routing of voice traffic on a first-come, first-served basis so that callers speak directly to the cab driver who can tell them before even pulling over to the side of the road that anything south of the river is out of the question. It is the matching of mobile phone location data to GPS location data received from the taxi that enables the server to make the match, and route the call. Location data from mobile phones is not accurate to street level, but it is good enough, according to Fawcett. "It is accurate enough for our purposes because of the voice call -- the passenger gets to speak directly to the driver, so can tell the driver where to pick up." The idea was conceived three years ago, said Fawcett, but the first trial was launched in November 2002. Some of this delay was due to the challenge of getting access to mobile phone location data from the network operators. Such data is generally seen as very sensitive because it can be used to build up not only a picture of a person's movements, but can reveal data about relationships where, for instance, two mobile phones move from one cell to another at exactly the same moment. Fawcett said the contract Zingo has signed with the network operators means the data is only used for matching locations. When someone first uses Zingo, they are given the opportunity to listen to the company's privacy policy. "We don't even give the driver and passenger each others' phone numbers," said Fawcett. "The call is routed through Zingo's servers, but if you're a passenger you do have an option to redial a particular cab once you've hung up." Billing for the service is taken care of by the taxi driver: A trip arranged using Zingo will carry a £1.60 surcharge (and the mobile phone call is charged at the national tariff). Currently, Vodafone and O2 subscribers can use the service. The contract with T-Mobile is being finalised, said Fawcett, who hopes to have Orange signed by the end of August. So far only a small proportion of the 20,000 plus privately-owned black cabs on London's streets have been fitted out with the Zingo kit, said Fawcett. He's hoping to get many more interested. Although Zingo's parent company Manganese Bronze is the same company that makes most London taxis, the drivers are all self-employed. To make the proposition more attractive to them, Zingo installs the kit -- which includes a mobile phone -- for free.

If it moves, we cover it. See ZDNet UK's Mobile Technology News Section for the latest news, reviews and price checks on mobile phones, PDAs, notebook computers and anything else you can take away. Let the editors know what you think in the Mailroom.

Post your comment

In order to post a comment you need to be registered and logged in.

You can also log in with Facebook. Log in or create your ZDNet UK account below

By signing up for this service, you indicate that you agree to our Terms and Conditions and have read and understood our Privacy Policy. Questions about membership? Find the answers in the Community FAQ

ZDNet UK Live

How dare film makers, artists or anybody that invests in creativity stop us pirating their works for free. I want to be able to walk into my local...

1 hour ago by JCB33 on ACTA stumbles in Germany

@GrueMaster. I prefer horses for courses rather than one size fits all. I, and I suspect most other computer users, do not really wish to have...

3 hours ago by Moley on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

The product that scares me every time I have to use it is the Office 2007 version of Excel. The first bug that I found was applying the median...

3 hours ago by greycynic on Ten flawed products that derail productivity

Nice review and very informative. One thing I'd like to add (in reply to whs001's 1st question), the main reason to have the same interface from...

5 hours ago by GrueMaster on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

I'be been using Mint 12 since the RC came out, and I am far more happy with the Cinnamon, the Mate, and, yes (with extensions), theGnome 3...

6 hours ago by Frederick Wrigley via Facebook on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

Excellent article. One small correction, though--although a fresh installation of Linux Mint 12 will, indeed, provide the user with a version of...

6 hours ago by bdantas on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

In related news, the ISPs club together to get the members of the Home Affairs Select Committee (ya goofed on that part, ZDNet UK) copies of "The...

7 hours ago by Alan Ralph via Facebook on MPs urge ISPs to take down terrorist material

In related news, the ISPs club together to get the members of the Home Affairs Select Committee (ya goofed on that part, ZDNet UK) copies of "The...

7 hours ago by Alan Ralph via Facebook on MPs urge ISPs to take down terrorist material

For Gnome 2 die-hards, it is possible to add icons to the bottom panel (or top top panel, if you prefer) which provide the exact Gnome 2...

8 hours ago by Moley on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

Your comments would seem pretty naive and immature. Your 'solution' appears to be, "gee, let's all just give in to the hackers and give them...

8 hours ago by ramwellian on Cloud computing security: no more oxymoron?

"Interesting thought ... If you installed Win7 as a dual boot on a machine that previously only had Linux, and it wrecked your Linux installation,...

8 hours ago by BugStalker on Windows 7 Declares War on GRUB

This is an excellent summary of Ubuntu and Mint and the interface differences between them. Most such articles take a very partisan position for...

8 hours ago by whs001 on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

@ewallace. Not so clear. Anyone can obtain the text, for example from here http://www.ustr.gov/webfm_send/2379. I support ACTA so long as it and...

8 hours ago by Moley on ACTA: Facts, misconceptions and questions

I think WinRT is fantastic. I just wish it was an option for people that didn't want to go through Microsoft's App Store with its attendant...

12 hours ago by 45283 on Why Windows 8 needs architectural hygiene for WOA

Nine people? £30m? Who's back pocket is that lot going in? And IF they say it is for new buildings, what about all the ones the government has...

13 hours ago by Burn-IT on Police set to launch three £30m e-crime hubs

Just to be clear, nobody knows what is in the text of ACTA, here is a photograph of the text of ACTA http://twitpic.com/8h9iju as submitted to the...

13 hours ago by ewallace on ACTA: Facts, misconceptions and questions

Unfortunately main issue is that ASUS is refusing to accept that they make some mistake on this version of asus Transformer prime. 1 - GPS sensor...

14 hours ago by fgvrg56 on Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime Wi-Fi & GPS problems?

@Marcus A fair question. Just talked with Archos which said it was working on an announcement for next week....

15 hours ago by Ben Woods on Archos confirms G9 Ice Cream Sandwich update schedule

Any update on this, considering the claimed "first week of February"?

16 hours ago by Marcus Karlsson via Facebook on Archos confirms G9 Ice Cream Sandwich update schedule

Bill Goodrich : Just as al_langevin pointed out, with Windows Server 2008 there is no Services for Macintosh anymore. It's gone, not available....

1 day ago by apexwm on Windows Server 2008 drops the ball for Mac compatibility

Featured white papers

Latest jobs

For taxis it's location, location, location

Daily Newsletters

Topics

Related stories

Wi-Fi: it's all about location, location, location...

Location, location, location: Intel puts users on the map

Apple bucks a falling PC trend in UK and France

Apple takes top PC spot from HP

Post your comment

ZDNet UK Live

Latest in Desktop Hardware

Apple bucks a falling PC trend in UK and France

Apple takes top PC spot from HP

Featured white papers

Latest jobs

Test Analyst - Business Intelligence /Data Warehousing

Test Analyst - Business Intelligence /Data Warehousing

Technical MI Manager - 50-60k - Leeds

Inside ZDNet UK

A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

2012 Predictions: VCE FastPath, VI SAN Probe & Hadoop

BlackBerry Bold 9790

Case study: How cloud enables growth

Ten factors that make Ubuntu 11.10 a hit

Toshiba Portégé Z830-10P Review

BT's archive: Pictures from the vault

News & Analysis

Reviews

Blogs

Resources

About Us

Member Services

Special Features

Advertising Features

ZDNet UK / News and Analysis / Workspace IT / Desktop Hardware

For taxis it's location, location, location

Daily Newsletters

Topics

Related stories

Post your comment

Get ZDNet UK's daily newsletter

Enter your email address to sign up

ZDNet UK Live

Latest in Desktop Hardware

Featured white papers

Latest jobs

Inside ZDNet UK

Resources

About Us

Member Services

Special Features

Advertising Features