Location 2.0 --> Indoors too!

CSR (the company that ended up being the fusion of Sirf, Zoran, and the old CSR) figured out that if they merged the info they have from GPS, Wi-Fi, and motion-detection (cell-phone compasses and accelerometers), they can do some fairly precise location-tracking indoors.

GPS can track your location outside by determining your position relative to a satellite network. But once you go inside, the network can no longer locate you, and it doesn’t work as well in urban canyons, or streets in between skyscrapers. The system also uses cellphone network and WiFi network location systems, such as those used in the Apple iPhone, to determine your location. But those don’t work in areas beyond the range of WiFi or in a cell phone reception dead spot.
Lastly, the sensors inside a phone can offer clues as well. A compass can indicate what direction you’re walking. And motion sensors such as gyroscopes can tell if you are moving or not. If you add all of that up, the signals can be fairly accurate about your location, inside or outside. Once the technology figures out where you are, it can compare your location to known location information, such as a map of big casinos in Las Vegas that show the outlines of the buildings. (More info at VentureBeat)

Their new chipset (SIRFStarV.  Coming to a cellphone near you next year) supposedly integrates all of this data, merges it with location info in the cloud, to make you uber-trackable.  Location 2.0 indeed - Sounds slightly big-brother-ish, but then again, it also sounds pretty remarkably cool.