I don’t think such a this feature is being provided by any telecom service provider across the world but yesterday I felt having something like this could be useful.

I was travelling with an acquaintance in his car and he had to pick up his wife on the way. The wife had to come to the pickup point in an auto rickshaw and wait for the husband but since she wasn’t very familiar with the area she lost the way and the auto driver, to make a few extra bucks took her for a ride and dropped her at a location she was not familiar with. Both husband and wife spent some time on the phone discussing where exactly she was and where they should meet for the husband to pick-up the wife. This obviously caused some undue anxiety and friction between the couple.

Now I started to think how techology could have helped here and I thought it would have helped if the wife had a GPS in her phone and could have got to the desired location to start with; or once lost, would have been in a position to accurately narrate to the husband where she was. But then not all people are comfortable reading maps so I felt that it may be worth having the following service that could help out in this situation.

Imagine a Mobile VAS where the husband could have fed in the wife’s cell no: in his phone and would come to know where exactly on the map his wife is. If it is possible to detect ones location on the map using ones mobile phone it should be possible to locate someone else’s location given their cell phone no:. Of course, to avoid misuse it should be possible for the wife to permit only specific cell nos: (i.e. the husband’s cell) to check out her location. If this were done then the husband who may be more confortable reading maps could have located the wife more easily and directed her to the desired location.

Having such a feature would also have enabled the husband to track the wife’s movement while she was in the auto rickshaw thus avoiding her getting lost in the first place.

Such a feature could be useful in other scenarios:

Being able to track your sales force in case you are in doubt if they are on the field or at home. So once you call someone and if that person has permitted you to see their location, then their location would flash on your mobile phone as the no: is being dialed / connected.

And of course, this would also help husbands and wifes get to trust their spouse when they say they are at office or home or work by being able to check out their location on their phone itself. Ofcourse, as with all things, for some dubious characters there is a down side to this service J