Mike,

First of all, remember this is Japan, are US and european cell phones even compatible with the Japanese network (if not, most tourists wouldn’t even bother taking them on the trip)?

Also, GPS is a US technology and I can see how a foreign country might want to seek out solutions that don’t rely on it if possible. Up until the year 2000 or so, the US intentionally made GPS systems slightly less accurate in civilian applications (part of the “selective availability” ability of GPS), in order to prevent potential enemies to use it for things like guiding missiles and stuff (we still maintain the ability to do that and also block GPS in regions of the world if neccessary). Who’s to say with our current “war on terrorism” that the administration won’t decide to reinstate selective availability or stop the GPS signal in areas not in direct US control? I didn’t think we’d invade two soverign countries, but we did do that, and the only reason why we ever turned off “selective availability” (which was part of the original deployment of GPS) was because the FAA pressured the DOD into keeping it off after the Gulf War to make their life easier.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Positioning_System

At any rate, the main poblem with “Selective availability” was that it introduced sufficient error to make GPS not very useful in small areas (say trying to navigate a downton street mall or something). If the point of the Japanese system was to give tourists info and directions, a GPS with “selective availability” enabled would limit the granularity of the information/directions that could be given.

Also, proprietary hardware means greater profits for the government. Let’s remember that this is potentially a nice revenue stream for the people running this system and the revenue can also go towards personnel and hardware costs to maintin the system. I suspect this is a major impetus to implement the system in the first place, to fleece more money from tourists.

Just wanna say, IIRC, that GPS is accurate down to about 3 feet. If that’s not enough accuracy to get you around a shopping mall, you got some SERIOUS eye problems. I’d say as long as it can get you within 30 feet you should be good.

Sounds to me like these RFID tags are gonna be used as a smaller, hidden version of the ‘you are here’ signs. Based on the range of RFID, you’ll probably have to be standing in a certain spot to get a reading. Might as well just put up maps. They’re a lot easier to use, not to mention cheaper.

Mike, I can’t believe you’d make such an idiotic argument. It’s obviously based in emotion and not fact. Clearly your assertion that GPS is be a superior form of location technology since RFID location (which IS cell triangulation) would require the consumer to purchase a ‘new’ device is fundamentally flawed as GPS requires the purchase of a device in order to receive a satellite signal.

Further, you said it seems like a waste….Hmmm…REALLY? Is it???? That’s an uneducated statement Mike. While GPS can only display a dot on a screen to tell you where you’re at, RFID tags can contain much, much more data such as location or venue information, item pricing, etc. So, as the user is walking the steets of Tokyo he can look at this device and know where he’s at on the map and perhaps in a sidebar the names of the stores that he’s passing while the RFID tag the store is using for the location device is also providing to the user a quick ad concerning a sale or special of the day.

Far more useful than GPS I’d say. But that’s just me…

Now run along and go play with your pet stegosaurus…

Ok, I live in Tokyo so I had to comment on this.

First, most new cellphones on sale now in Japan have GPS built in as a standard feature. This is true for DoCoMo, AU, and to some extend even SoftBank (ex Vodaphone). There was even some pressure from the government here that GPS was a necessary service for carriers to provide vis a vis disaster relief or accidents etc. Most cell phones include a software function which uses the GPS for family members to track each other (mainly an excuse to sell more cellphones to young children though.) It should be pointed out that each of the three carriers use a proprietary cell system, protocol included, and dictate cellphone features to the phone manufacturers, making each phone only compatible with that carrier, though Softbank as ex-Vodaphone, has some level of international portability.

Regarding the accuracy of phone GPS here, however ( I use it often by the way), is bad, in that it can be up to a block off, which can be really confusing when you are looking for a particular shop in the back streets of Ginza, and yes it is useless indoors. So, RFID would be great *if* the cell phone I carry also happened to pick up the RFID signal too.

If you noticed, the parent company (or half, as there is an NTT West, see ‘monopoly’) of the group including DoCoMo (#1 carrier here), NTT East, is part of the project, and with the government involved, *and* with a type of IC tag allready a standard feature in many cellphones, again all three carriers (including e-wallet applications and commuter train pass applications), one can conclude that this project might be precurser to the inclusion of the functionality in cellphones at some point in the future.

On the other hand, the Japanese tech industry does have a long history of spending lots of money on projects which base everything on brand spanking new, untried devices with no advance research into wether or not the consumer has any interest in using said device, and then crashing and burning, usually as quietly as possible. Recent candidates include ‘Moba-Ho’ and digital radio, and there are countless e-book readers and PDA like devices providing gainful employment to many a recycling firm.

Then again, this *is* advanced research. Ginza has historical precident as being the first place in Japan to feature electric street lamps, thus the choice as location for this test.

This is an interesting project combining Wi Fi, Bluetooth, Internet and RFID technologies in a lifestyle application for the general public in with multi-lingual support for tourists. It’s a bold effort to push the envelope and test knowledge from lab to a real life scenario outside of normal supply chain and manufacturing environments. Worth a look at. The trial ends in March.

If you’re serious about RFID and would like to find out about the results and meet the man heading the project, Professor Ken Sakamura from Tokyo University will be presenting this case as a distinguished speaker at the RFID World Asia 2007 executive conference.

RFID World Asia 2007 is the region’s largest gathering of RFID practitioners and related professionals coming together to promote responsible RFID adoption and development with an emphasis on achieving quick ROI and sustainable business value. This premier conference and expo will be held in Singapore – April 25 – 27.

To find out more visit:
http://www.terrapinn.com/2007/rfidwa_SG/