Philosophy

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The Decade of Location

We believe location is becoming significantly more important - both economically and socially - in every facet of daily life.  Many well-established tracking technologies and services address "where something is" for purposes of prediction, optimization, navigation, management and security.  In addition, many emerging location-based technologies are being introduced to push context-sensitive information to people or personnel on location (geocasting).

Although track-logs are well understood, they remain an underexploited location resource.  We predict that their use in optimization, management, tracking and billing will have major economic impacts in the current decade and those following.  In this mode, the technology of "where something was" will become pivotal -- especially in the development of optimized economic levers for transport demand management (TDM).

If you live in Toronto...

...you are almost certainly aware of our growing Gridlock/Transit problem.  The Toronto Board of Trade, long a harbinger of these and other growth-and-urban-health related issues, is a principal participant in a public opinion focus site, www.RealTorontoSolutions.ca.  Go here to read some recent position papers.  In the February 2003 paper entitled "The Case for A Greater Toronto Area Transportation Authority", the following appears:

"The province should also consider allowing the corporation [City of Toronto] to raise revenue to finance specific projects. Options include user fees (e.g. parking), and tolls (subject to provincial approval)"

Although this does not yet go far enough (tolls solely to finance road projects do not bring full market principles to bear on the decision to use transit), this is a critical first step.  As well, it is another indication of the gradual awareness that we cannot continue to inequitably spread the monetary cost of roads, the productivity costs of congestion and the health and environmental costs of pollution among motorists and non-motorists alike.  Indeed, many of the costs of roads and their associated congestion and pollution are borne by future generations as well as non-human species.

© Copyright 2004 Applied Location Corporation. Last update: 04.04.19; 12:32:14 AM.