Knowing exactly where you are on the face of the earth gives your smartphone wonderful location-specific capabilities. But GPS can only tell you what building you’re in, not where you are in it. So STMicroelectronics has developed an advanced pressure sensing chip that can determine your vertical elevation down to what floor you’re standing on.
The innovation is as awesome as it is creepy. Location-based services are becoming more and more prevalent in the smartphone market, and ST’s LPS331AP chip could let shoppers receive targeted coupons or advertisements for whatever store they’re in, on whatever floor of a shopping centre.
In fact, the tiny 3mm x 3mm chip can accurately measure vertical elevation from 1800 metres below sea level, to a height of about 10km. That’s higher than the summit of Mount Everest. So no matter where you’re using your device — outside of flying — it should be able to pinpoint exactly where you are.
That’s a good thing, right?