2008-04-11 23:10:39 -
- RDPA, LLC, a Seattle, Washington firm that develops advanced technologies for the media research industry, announced today it is combining WiFi signal detection with GPS tracking technology to expand measurement reach of out-of-home advertising exposure.
According to Roger Percy of RDPA, "WiFi signals are gathered, identified by emission location, and then combined with GPS location data to construct
accurate travel paths through urban canyons, subways, airports, and retail establishments. It's intriguing to think that we should soon be able to track consumers past the advertising, into the store, and perhaps even up to the cash register."
Percy continued, "WiFi signals are everywhere and growing in number. Our preliminary testing in Manhattan last month showed a marked increase in numbers of WiFi hot spots over similar testing last July, and successfully tracked travel through Grand Central Station and the Fifty-third Street and Lexington Avenue subway station. A two-hour transit journey in Singapore detected 2,462 WiFi signals, indicating that this technology has worldwide application."
Under an exclusive licensing arrangement, RDPA with Nielsen Outdoor, a division of The Nielsen Company, developed a proprietary GPS device - the Nielsen Personal Outdoor Device, or Npod - about the size of a cell phone that members of a randomly selected sample carry in their pockets, place in their cars, or wear like a pager. The sample member's path and travel speed is aligned with the "visibility zone" of out-of-home advertising sites, taking into consideration each site's precise position, size, illumination status, and direction it is facing. The resulting measurement of opportunity to see delivers reliable reach, frequency, and site-specific ratings data on real people, passing real sites, in real time.
Lorraine Hadfield, Managing Director of Nielsen Outdoor, confirmed that Nielsen is exploring the additional benefits of adding WiFi to GPS in order to expand Nielsen's ability to better serve the out-of-home advertising industry.
Percy adds, "The use of radio frequency location techniques, such as WiFi, to supplement GPS tracking of out-of-home audience measurement, was incorporated in our original intellectual property. We have just been waiting for WiFi to become ubiquitous. With a cumulative one billion WiFi chipsets expected to be shipped throughout the world by the middle of 2008, we are confident that our methodology's time has come."
RDPA, LLC
Roger D. Percy, 206-622-3244
rogerpercy@rdp-inc.com 
