Mobile Location Services Domain Working Group

Overview

The OGC Mobile Location Services (MLS) DWG is a venue in the OGC Standards Program for location-aware mobile requirements and use cases.

Project Scope

The MLS DWG provides a platform within the OGC Standards Program dedicated to addressing the requirements and use cases for location-aware mobile services. The DWG aims to meet these objectives through various strategies, such as inviting industry experts to share their insights, submitting change requests to amend current standards, pinpointing possible COSI Initiatives to further these requirements, and establishing best practices for the application of OGC standards in mobile contexts.

Background

The growing concerns surrounding location tracking and privacy in the realm of mobile services underscore the urgency for clear standards and ethical guidelines. The collection of location data from smartphones, when combined with tracking analytics, can predict individual behaviors with startling accuracy, exceeding 90% in some instances. This issue has prompted significant involvement from OGC members and staff in discussions, manifestos, and the development of standards addressing location and privacy. Against this backdrop, the DWG has been established with broad goals to navigate these complex challenges.

The DWG is committed to understanding the implementation barriers encountered by various interest groups within the mobile location services sector and aims to document these obstacles in a manner that informs future technology design. A key objective is to identify interfaces and information encodings that not only align with existing OGC standards but are also specifically tailored to meet the discovered needs of the mass market for mobile location services. Furthermore, the group seeks to advance the development of OGC standards that cater to the objectives of mobile location-based services. These standards may emerge from existing market-established norms or be developed as anticipatory measures within OGC initiatives.

Activities

The MLS DWG functions as a comprehensive “umbrella” group, facilitating discussions on a wide array of specifications and technologies within the realm of mobile location services. The group focuses on identifying the technology requirements and solutions pertinent to Location Services, ensuring that the needs of the industry and users are adequately addressed. Additionally, it serves as a crucial focal point within the OGC Technical Committee (TC) for engaging with complementary organizations, fostering collaboration and synergy between various stakeholders. Moreover, the DWG encourages other OGC working groups to advance their work on critical services and encodings, thereby promoting comprehensive progress across the board in the development and refinement of standards and technologies for mobile location services.