What is Geo-Fencing and Location Based Services?

The terms Geo-Fencing , and Location Based Services are hot topics in the mobile marketing world but many are still find out what they are. A geo-fence is a virtual perimeter for a real-world geographic area*. This could be a small or large radius around a desired location set and you are notified when a device enters or exists the area to send a custom message.

Location-based services access information provided by a mobile device to tell where a user is located, typically through a phone’s GPS. As such, location-based services (LBS) have a number of uses in social networking (e.g Foursquare or Facebook check ins) and mobile advertising today.  With smartphone and tablet sales on the rise, LBS have become more and more important. When the location-aware device of a location-based service (LBS) user enters or exits a geo-fence, the potential customer’s device can receive a generated notification, such as a message that a sale or special is happening nearby*. (*source: Wikipedia)