The LBS hype cycle is back in full swing and this time it has the potential to become a widely embraced technology. But until LBS providers deliver location-enabled applications with mass consumer appeal (accurately and consistently identify the user's location is a feature currently available on only a small number of devices), then Average Joe Consumer will never be a user.

In this discussion, Rice presents a case study of Loki, the recently launched Location-Based Internet Search and Navigation application that uses Skyhook's Wi-Fi Positioning System (WPS) to automatically incorporates a user's current physical location into their internet session. It was developed and launched using three core principals:

• Make location-enabled a common practice. Internet search and content navigation are practiced by hundreds of millions of people every day.
• Deploy it on commonly used and widely adopted platforms. Windows operating system is the most prolific, device agnostic OS on the market.
• Consistently and accurately define the user's location. WPS works where people are (urban areas and indoors), requires no additional hardware or equipment, and consistently identifies a user's location within 50 meters.

Can Loki be a guide for LBS application development? Can WPS--with coverage expected to reach 70% of the U.S. population by end of year--become a key location-determination platform? Your comments, opinions, and insights will matter in this interactive session.