Internet giant Google has given its Microsoft Windows Mobile device searchers the same free GPS-like cell tower  identification technology it brought to mobile Google Maps users last year, a feature that shows the nearest services and attractions for any search performed using the Mountain View, California-based company's mobile search engine. Consumers in the United States and United Kingdom were the first to receive access to the new Google "Search with My Location" feature, on over 20 supported mobile devices from HTC, Palm, Samsung, Motorola and others running Windows Mobile. A Virtual GPS System For Google Mobile Searchers In November 2007 Google launched the "My Location" technology for users of its Google Maps for mobile application, using cell phone tower information to show where a person is and to find nearby services and attractions, without the need for a cell phone-based GPS unit. Google has added the "My Location" technology to its popular mobile search application, which can show users approximately where they are located and the points of interest nearby, using information broadcast from cell phone towers, the company announced Thursday. "Today we're introducing Search with My Location, a new way to make searching for nearby businesses on your Windows Mobile phone faster and easier," Google Mobile Search Team software engineer Phil Genera and product manager Joshua Siegel wrote Thursday in a message on the company's mobile blog announcing the new search feature. In a move likely to appeal to those sporting cell phones without built-in Global Positioning System (GPS) functionality, Google Search with My Location for mobile has provided a GPS-like system which, although unable to provide the same down-to-the-inch precision offered by some GPS-equipped devices, has given Google searchers the ability to locate the nearest restaurants, gas stations or hospitals from their mobile devices using Windows Mobile. Derived From Google Gears Geolocation Technology Before the change announced Thursday, Google local searches conducted from mobile devices were set to display results from the last location searched for. Using technology from Google Gears Geolocation  application programming interface (API) the mobile search service now "approximates your actual location using the same Cell ID technology used by Google maps for mobile," Genera and Siegel said in the announcement. The list of devices supporting the new Google mobile search "My Location" feature included the following models, which the search giant said would expand as it worked with cell phone manufacturers "to add support to future phone versions."  | HP IPAQ hw6900 | | HTC 4350 | | | HTC 8525 | | HTC Atlas | | | HTC MTeoR | | HTC P3300 | | | HTC P3450 | | HTC P3600 | | | HTC P3650 | | HTC Touch | | | HTC Touch Dual | | HTC Touch | | | HTC TyTN | | HTC TyTN II | | | o2 XDA Orbit | | Palm Treo 750 | | | Samsung Blackjack II | | Samsung i780 | | | Samsung SCH i760 | | HTC Mogul on Sprint | | | Motorola Q9 | | | On The Go Weather Information Also Available Google said that users of supported devices could access the new search feature with virtual GPS functionality by clicking on a new "My Location" link under the search box on the main Google mobile search page. Google said the new mobile search feature would help users get "information about local businesses when we're away from our computers," which Genera and Siegel said was useful for such tasks as "confirming the address of a bar while on the way to meet friends." The new mobile feature also allows users to obtain local weather forecasts. "If you want to know the forecast, type 'weather'," Google said. The leading search engine firm said that information identifying those using the new service is kept private, and that it was implemented "so that it doesn't associate your location with any personally identifiable information, even if you are logged in." Google Search For Windows Mobile Gets Virtual GPS Technology While traditional GPS systems require a signal from a satellite to operate, the technology Google uses in its new mobile search application relies only on the same cell phone tower signals that allow mobile communications to take place. The feature makes use of unique identifying signals sent out from each cell  phone tower, which Google interprets to determine roughly where a person's cell phone is, and does so in what the company says is an anonymous manner that doesn't collect any personally identifiable information or connect any usage information with other data it may have about a particular user. The new mobile search technology was developed entirely by Google last year for its mobile mapping service, and makes use of each of three cells typically surrounding each cell phone tower, which according to Google Maps for mobile product manager Steve Lee "come with identification numbers, but no location information. Google takes geo-contextual information and associates this information with the cell at that location to develop a database of cell locations." Certain areas may offer better accuracy than others, according to Lee, since "areas with a denser concentration of mobile towers allow for a more accurate My Location reading." Related Links:
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8:45 pm on Sep. 11, 2008 (utc 0)