Current GPS-based location technology is now mature, with receivers of increasingly lower cost, size and power consumption yet with higher sensitivity taking on mass-market applications not even considered until recently. A new generation of positioning solutions is dawning too. Satellite navigation will be improved through the use of additional, modernized GPS signals in combination with other satellite navigation systems and augmentations and more sophisticated receivers. Navigation receivers will also integrate other types of sensors and use signals of opportunity, mitigating some of the shortcomings of current GPS solutions.

This means that location-based services for vulnerable people are finally ready for consolidation in the assistive technology marketplace.  A large sector of the care community has for years advocated the need for emergency location services, while privacy and ethical concerns weighed heavily in people’s minds. Furthermore, positioning in assistive technology is going beyond emergency location and into more proactive areas such as cognitive support for independent travel.

This paper discusses how different aspects affecting the quality of a location service, from GPS performance to communication, service and user-related issues were addressed in developing an emergency location system specifically aimed at Social Care.  Technology features and system design helped to produce a flexible, robust and reliable service, offering a  solution which can be configured to support the needs of a single person right through to the provision of a fully integrated service to manage the needs of an entire organisation. However, this has to be linked to well thought out processes and best practice of service and care providers to ensure that the user needs are met.