Autodesk Inc., (UK) announced recently its Autodesk European Location Services Developer Program. This location-based services (LBS) program provides European developers with the resources and support needed to rapidly bring LBS applications and services to market. The LBS market is estimated to reach $200 million EUR by 2007, according to Frost and Sullivan, and wireless carriers around the world are location-enabling their networks to facilitate worldwide demand for LBS services such as social networking, gaming, personal navigation and directions.
Modeled on its successful U.S. program, this new program helps developers create LBS services using Autodesk’s open standards platform to market their applications worldwide. Autodesk works with the most successful wireless carries in the world; including three of the five tier-one wireless providers in the US.
Additionally, the program offers a solid geo-services and location privacy management platform architecture, a standards-based application programming interface (API) for the Web and handsets, as well as technical documentation and support. Autodesk plans to foster location-based developer discussions, blogs, events and discussion groups for the community on an ongoing basis. The European program was created with developers’ needs in mind by utilising feedback from Autodesk’s Developer Council, a selected group of LBS developers devoted to guiding and informing Autodesk about the tools needed to bring commercially successful applications to market.
