Consumer Friend Finder, Map and Check-in Apps Driving Location-Based Services Market

The location-based services (LBS) market is forecast to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 22 percent through 2019, research firm TechNavio said. Driving the LBS market are friend finders, maps and check-in applications adopted by individual consumers, it said. On the enterprise side, companies are deploying LBS for advertising, search, tracking, navigation and analytics, it said. Some 72 percent of all emergency calls are made using mobile phones, said Faisal Ghaus, vice president, TechNavio. Tracing the accurate location of the caller is a challenge, however, he said. LBS platforms can be used to track where a call is coming from by providing real-time information on the location of the caller “in a short time span,” he said.