Education

Does every college student have a cell phone? Yes. A recent Ball State University study found that 99.8% of college students do. That makes it the most powerful way to reach students. Educational institutions are starting to take notice of this. Programs are now in place to use location information on cell phones to increase safety on campus, connect college students to the campus and the community, and provide time- and location-critical information.

Locaid, the world’s largest LaaS (Location-as-a-Service) company, delivers network location data for over 350 million devices, including all the cell phones on your campus.

Keep Campuses Safer

Campuses are implementing location-based security systems. For example, a student can set a precautionary timer on her cell phone before walking across campus. When she arrives, she can deactivate it. If the timer expires instead of being deactivated, campus security will call her to make sure that she is safe. If not, they will have her location information so that they can dispatch someone to check on her.

If a student feels threatened, she can press a panic button that sends her location information, plus any other information set up in a profile in advance (picture, home location, work location, and information on any medical conditions) straight to campus security.

The system is even being used to allow students to text anonymous crime tips to the campus police, alerting them of bullying, threats, or vandalism.

Once again, Locaid steps in to help, making sure that the service can be used on all cell phones, even those without GPS, and also ensuring that phones can be located indoors or outdoors—wherever trouble might be.

Connect Students to the Campus and Community

Students often cite their campus tour as a major factor in their choice of colleges. A location-based campus tour can help students learn more about landmarks, facilities, and places where other students hang out, all at their own pace and following their own interests.

But you don’t have to stop there. Location-based apps can encourage students to explore after they arrive by creating a program for students to check in at various locations. Once they complete all their check ins, they might receive a reward, such as, school t-shirts, caps, or tickets to a school game.

Such programs are not limited to college campuses. Any educational institution can create locationbased applications to augment their real world exhibits. The Smithsonian has several such cell phone tours.

Keep Students Current

A student’s mobile phone can be a useful place to deliver information that is time- or locationcritical. This includes everyday information such as car pooling availability, the location of open parking spaces, university events (including which friends are attending), and local weather and traffic. Safety information can also be relayed, including warnings about certain areas, areas of construction to avoid, or news about natural disasters and how to respond. Even promotional information can be provided, such as sales at the bookstore or rewards gained for checking in to the local cafeteria.

Get your Location API at: http://developer.loc-aid.com/getit