Your Source for Mobile Location-Related News
We are repurposing this site to track all things (or as best we can) location-related as it pertains to the Coronavirus. Below will be a running tally on how the virus is involving or impacting the use of location in various types of Use Cases, as well as how location (and IoT) could be used to address the limitations the virus is imposing on us all.  Stay Well!  David Williams--Publisher.  If you have examples you would like added to this list, please send them to dwilliams@LBSGlobe.com. 

LBS Globe

Location-Based Services - The use of (mobile) locating techologies to provide value-adding consumer and enterprise services.
 
Public Safety, particularly E911 (Enhanced 911)  - The use of mobile locating technologies to find you when you dial 911.
 
The Internet of Things - When practically everything (and everyone) you see has some sort of sensor(s) and the ability to provide information about that thing (or things around it) to some (one, thing) via the internet. This is the future, whether we like it or not!
 
Driverless Cars - The implementation of this ecosystem will have profound effects on the human/technology interface and overall society. This page will try and anticipate these effects.
 
Drones - Drones are fast moving from the hobbyist and even cutting-edge business uses towards the mainstream. The intersection of drones in the use of Location-Based Services is going to be exciting, and is tracked here.
 
Sensors - The key enabler for anything IoT.
 
Gaming - The biggest current money-maker, gaming has even more $ potential in the future. But it also has a host of key issues on the horizon. Read about them here.
 
Location Privacy - The Privacy implications of all of the above are enormous, and the potential for abuse immense. We diligently track and opine on privacy concerns on anything to do with mobile location (for additional information on location data privacy click here).

Nursing Homes
  • Enforcing residents to stay in-room/in-building
  • Keeping non-residents out
  • Excepting/screening NH workers
  • Tracking and Managing meals and services delivered to confined residents.
  • Tracking of transfers of residents (infected and not-infected) to other facilities
  • Tracking and geofencing of recovering virus patients transferred to Nursing Homes to complete recovery
Hospitals ("New" uses of location)
  • Disease-specific patent tracking
  • More stringently-enforced hand-washing
  • ETracking of available masks, gloves, haz-mat suits, and key equipment (e.g. Ventilators)
  • Tracking and Managing possible exposure of Doctors and Nurses
  • Bringing on-board and tracking retired and other formerly out-of-the-business resources.

Last Update: April 6, 2020

General
  • Tracking (suddenly) not-in-use assets
  • Tracking of last-cleaned/cleanliness status of all assets
  • Tracking of Furloughed workers (with their permission) to be able to be brought back ASAP when conditions change
  • Tracking assets/workers in comparison to CV-19 hotspots
  • Tracking state/local-specific restrictions relative to assets and workers
  • Tracking out-of-state visitors entering the state and their adherence to state/local quarantine requirements
  • Open up businesses with single-file lines, using sensors (or plain-old tape) to enforce social distancing
Consumer Goods (Consumable) Manufacturers
  • Micro-tracking by good of real-time demand, by varying sized location and geofences (e.g. by grocery store, city, state, hot-spot)
  • Micro-tracking of manufacturing/supply chain by good and location
  • Micro-tracking of delivery status by good and location
Military
  • Tracking new recruits (and CV-19 status) before they begin their (delayed) service
  • Tracking/geofencing sick sailors on-board their ship
Waste Management
  • Tracking and Managing (virus) contanimated waste (including "sick" or under-quarantine because of illness households
  • Specialized routing of haz-mat waste trucks
  • Specialized tracking of haz-mat capabile waste containers
  • Routing/managing dumping of contanimated waste
  • Tracking cleaning/decontamiatd trucks/containers
  • Managing/tracking workers skilled in handling haz-wastes, including decontamination
  • Matching haz mat workers with assets/trucks
  • Establishing/tracking/managing of all sorts of geofences related to above
Hotels (and AirBnb) and Restaurants - While closed
  • "Repurposing" of hotel rooms to use for quarantines, with associated close tracking of guest containment, use of services, services being provided, etc.
  • Tracking last cleaned status, including materials (need IoT sensors/tags to track what cleaning products were uese, where, and how much)
  • Tracking of health status of guests (and in the case of AirBnB, the owners) relative to room/property (incredibly Privacy-invasive)
  • Geofencing high-risk areas (e.g. in-house fitness centers-including by machine, changing rooms, etc.), buffet dining
  • Truly contactless check-in (checkout already contactless); related: automated check-in (e..g. no front desk clerks)
  • Mini-"quarantined" or safe rooms for AirBnb owners (e.g. guests can use or access certin rooms, with electonic monitorong to enforce)
Restaurants (particularly Delivery Service Management)
  • Home Delivery Management - Providing restaurants with greater ability to manage (multiple) home delivery services, based on (in part) demographics of customers and nature of deliveries
Big Data * (* The use of big data is one of the major tools in this crisis, as seen in the various virus-related maps. 
  • Tracking CV-19 cases and deathsat a macro and micro-levels
  • Tracking key support elements, e.g. available beds,ventilators, doctors/nurse/EMTs (and status of those human resources)
  • Tracking of movements of people and relationships to (then) emerging hot spots
Legal
Real Estate
  • Virtual Open Houses - Enhanced via use of IoT
Consumer Behavior - Dating
  • Virtual Dating (though qualified by nearness/locatio
Entertainment
  • Finding allowable/smaller venues for hosting limited-size entertainment events, such as UFC fights
Politics - Voting
  • How to manage in-person voting while enforcing social distancing, e.g. managing locations, spacing betwen voters, etc. while avoiding long lines and other issues