Microsoft MapPoint Location Server: A Technical and Business Overview

Article
08/28/2007

Introduction

Microsoft® MapPoint® Location Server is an enterprise server product that works with PC and mobile device clients to help enterprise users determine the location of coworkers whose jobs frequently take them out of the office. With MapPoint Location Server a user can find—and view on a map—the location of a coworker who is using a wireless device. Mobile personnel can use MapPoint Location Server to locate each other and to find other places they want to visit; for example, to find a hotel or conference center while on a business trip. Non-mobile personnel can use MapPoint Location Server to locate enterprise users who are on the road; for example, to dispatch an employee to make a delivery or make a service call.

But MapPoint Location Server can be used for more than just finding the locations of mobile users. Users can also view maps of and get directions to and from the following types of places:

The address of a Microsoft Outlook® contact.
A street address, such as 1 Microsoft Way, Redmond, WA.
A named place, such as Carnegie Hall or the San Diego Zoo.
Items in Find Nearby categories, such as restaurants, hotels, bank machines, and dry cleaners that are close to their own locations. (System administrators can define Find Nearby categories that are specific to each enterprise.)

MapPoint Location Server provides this functionality by working in conjunction with mobile operators, which provide location information, and MapPoint Web Service, which provides maps, proximity search functionality, and driving directions. To use MapPoint Location Server, you need a MapPoint Web Service account and a contract with a mobile operator that provides real-time location data. For more information, see "Getting Started with MapPoint Location Server" later in this article.

Benefits of MapPoint Location Server

MapPoint Location Server provides the following benefits:

End-to-end solution—Two client applications are included with MapPoint Location Server: MapPoint Mobile Locator for PC and MapPoint Mobile Locator for Pocket PC Phone Edition.
Security—All personally identifiable information about users remains within the enterprise. Communication between MapPoint Location Server and MapPoint Web Service and between MapPoint Location Server and mobile operators takes place over connections that use Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). For more information, see "Security and Privacy" later in this article.
Programmability—MapPoint Location Server includes APIs that developers can use to build both location-enabled client applications and server-management-and-administration applications. For more information, see Programming with MapPoint Location Server, Version 1.0.

About This Article

This article is intended for system administrators, business decision makers, and other IT professionals who are interested in learning about MapPoint Location Server. This article describes how MapPoint Location Server works, discusses its security and privacy features, and finally, describes how to get started with MapPoint Location Server.

How MapPoint Location Server Works

MapPoint Location Server consists of three main components:

MapPoint Location Server Web Service—A Web service, installed within the enterprise, that works with both mobile operators and MapPoint Web Service to provide location services, render maps, find points of interest, and supply driving directions.
MapPoint Location Server database—A Microsoft SQL Server™ 2000 database that stores information about users, Find Nearby categories, and other information related to MapPoint Location Server.
MapPoint Location Server management console—A Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-in that administrators use to administer MapPoint Location Server.

MapPoint Location Server acts as a middle-tier between location-enabled applications, a mobile operator's location service and notification service, and MapPoint Web Service.

As shown in Figure 1, MapPoint Location Server handles logons, maintains security and privacy settings, and accesses location information from a mobile operator and cartographic information from MapPoint Web Service. MapPoint Location Server then manages the tasks required to fulfill location and direction requests from clients.

Figure 1. MapPoint Location Server tasks

MapPoint Location Server is integrated with Microsoft Active Directory®, which is used as the master store for users and for authentication and authorization. Users who are provisioned for MapPoint Location Server must already exist in the Active Directory domain for the enterprise. Once a user is provisioned for MapPoint Location Server, Active Directory information about the user, such as domain and alias, display name, and e-mail address, is retrieved from Active Directory and stored in the MapPoint Location Server database.

MapPoint Location Server communicates with mobile operators through providers, software plug-ins that are specific to each mobile operator. In general, each mobile operator has two providers:

A location provider, which is used to communicate with a mobile operator that provides real-time location data.
A notification provider, which is used to send Short Message Service (SMS) messages to user's devices. For more information see "User Privacy" later in this article.

The accuracy of the locations returned by mobile operators differs depending on the technology they use to locate mobile devices. The following table provides an overview of technologies used by mobile operators and approximate location accuracy of each method.

Table 1. Location accuracy

Technology	Approximate location accuracy
Cell Sector	Urban areas: 1 – 3 kilometers Suburban areas: 3 - 20 kilometers
Assisted GPS (AGPS)	10 – 50 meters
Time Difference of Arrival (TDOA)	100 meters
Angle of Arrival (AOA)	100 meters

Security and Privacy

MapPoint Location Server includes security and privacy controls for both the enterprise and the user.

Enterprise Security

All communication between MapPoint Location Server and the mobile operator and MapPoint Location Server and MapPoint Web Service takes place over secure connections, with SSL enabled. And as mentioned earlier, MapPoint Location Server handles authentication and stores all information about users within the enterprise.

A user requesting location information is first verified as a provisioned user. Once the user is authenticated, MapPoint Location Server requests only the location of the user's device from the mobile operator, without passing any personally identifiable data about the user.

The mobile operator returns only the latitude and longitude of the device, after first verifying that MapPoint Location Server is authorized to request the location of the device. This security feature helps ensure, for example, that a rogue enterprise cannot use MapPoint Location Server to locate the users of its competitors. Microsoft builds the mobile operator's authentication protocol into the provider for each mobile operator. The authentication protocol, like the provider, is specific to each mobile operator network.

To help protect the security of your data, Microsoft recommends that you distribute MapPoint Location Server components across an inner and outer firewall. Figure 2 shows a typical distributed deployment, with MapPoint Location Server Web Service installed inside an outer firewall and the MapPoint Location Server database installed inside an inner firewall.

Figure 2. MapPoint Location Server deployment

User Privacy

MapPoint Location Server includes the following privacy features for users:

Explicit opt-in model—A user must explicitly give other users permission before they can locate him.
Notifications—A user can choose to be notified when another user attempts locate him or when he is added to another user's contact list. Notifications are sent through a notification provider by means of Short Message Service (SMS) messages or e-mail messages.
Blocking—A user can decide at any time to block either individual contacts or all contacts from locating him.

Note A user cannot be located if his device is turned off.

Provisioning and Management

Administering MapPoint Location Server includes managing global settings, provisioning and managing users and contacts, and managing Find Nearby categories. For ease of management, MapPoint Location Server provides a management console that can be installed either on the same computer as MapPoint Location Server Web Service or on a separate computer, which is recommended.

MapPoint Location Server also exposes a full set of management APIs that developers can use to automate management tasks, such as user provisioning, and create custom administration applications that work with MapPoint Location Server. For more information, see the MapPoint Location Server SDK, Version 1.0.

Getting Started with MapPoint Location Server

To use MapPoint Location Server, you'll need a MapPoint Web Service account and a contract with a mobile operator.

For information about MapPoint Web Service, visit the following Web sites:

MapPoint Web Service Home page—Learn about MapPoint Web Service features, read case studies, and find out about MapPoint Web Service licensing models.
MapPoint Web Service evaluation account—Try MapPoint Web Service through an evaluation account. With an evaluation account, you have full access to the MapPoint Web Service APIs and test environment, and can upload your own location data for use with the MapPoint Web Service. An evaluation accounts is valid for 45 days.
MapPoint Web Service on MSDN—Browse through the MapPoint Web Service SDK and read technical articles about developing with MapPoint Web Service.
MapPoint Web Service newsgroups—Discuss MapPoint Web Service issues with other users.

For more information about MapPoint Location Server and to download the product, visit the following Web sites:

MapPoint Location Server on TechNet—Read the Microsoft MapPoint Location Server Administrator's Guide, Version 1.0 and find links to important security information and related products and technologies.
MapPoint Location Server download—Download MapPoint Location Server, the MapPoint Mobile Locator for PC and MapPoint Mobile Locator for Pocket PC Phone Edition clients, and associated user guides and Readme files.
MapPoint Location Server newsgroups—Discuss MapPoint Location Server issues with other users.

MapPoint Location Server providers are available to MapPoint Web Service customers on the MapPoint Web Service Customer Services site, a secure Web site located on the Microsoft extranet.

Conclusion

MapPoint Location Server connects wireless mobile devices, location service providers, and MapPoint Web Service to provide powerful location-based services to end users, while conducting all communications over secure channels and providing important privacy controls for end users. With the MapPoint Location Server clients, Mobile Locator for PC and Mobile Locator for Pocket PC Phone Edition, you can quickly implement an end-to-end location-based solution within your enterprise.