Trial system gives visitors access to local information but raises privacy concerns
Tourists visiting Hong Kong are taking part in a large-scale test of mobile location-based services.
The service tracks visitors as they travel around Hong Kong, giving them access to local information but also collecting data for researchers and marketers.
Mobily Yours Hong Kong (myHK) bundles mobile voice service with travel information. Unlike other mobile travel information services, information is provided based on the user's current location. With a SIM card inserted in the user's mobile phone, the system can track his or her location within 20 metres, and provide information accordingly.
The trial period began on December 4 and will end on Saturday, by which time 2,000 SIM cards, each worth $100, will have been distributed free of charge through various channels, including the China Travel Service, Ocean Park, Harbour City and the Excelsior Hotel, with the aim of targeting different groups of tourists.
Using the system, a tourist in Wan Chai, for example, could request information about nearby restaurants or fashion outlets and would not even need to know his location.
Francis Wong Yick-man, managing director of Trident Telecom, who is also the project manager of the programme, said: 'This is particularly useful to tourists who do not know their way around Hong Kong.'