世論 What Japan Thinks

With GPS becoming standard in most of the higher-end mobile phones these days, this recent survey from goo Research and reported on by japan.internet.com looked at GPS devices in general.

Demographics

Between the 24th and 29th of September 2009 1,023 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 52.8% of the sample were male, 16.4% in their teens, 18.2% in their twenties, 21.3% in their thirties, 16.2% in their forties, 15.6% in their fifties, and 12.2% aged sixty or older.

I don’t have GPS on my rather old and low-end phone, but I cannot really say I desperately want any of the features listed in Q2SQ. A walking history might be nice, as a few phones these days also have pedometers, so recording not just your paces but also your speed and distance walked might be useful for tracking one’s exercise patterns. Location-based search in itself is not compelling, but add in functionality such as only showing your favourite genres of restaurants, highly-rated locations, or places with discount coupons and then it becomes more useful, although whether or not I’d use it is debatable!

Research results

Q1: Do you know the term “GPS”? (Sample size=1,023)

Yes	87.1%
Just heard the term	9.8%
No	3.1%

Q2: Which of the following devices with GPS functionality do you have? (Sample size=1,023, multiple answer)

	Votes	Percentage
Car navigation system	483	47.2%
GPS-enabled mobile phone (to SQ)	444	43.4%
GPS radar detector	45	4.4%
Walking navigation system	25	2.4%
GPS computer peripheral	19	1.9%
GPS-enabled digital camera	3	0.3%
Other	9	0.9%
Don’t have any GPS devices	304	29.7%

Q2SQ: Which GPS-related functions have you used on your mobile phone? (Sample size=444, multiple answer)

	Votes	Percentage
Local area search	238	53.6%
Map display	234	52.7%
Weather forecast	113	25.5%
Walking navigation support	110	24.8%
GPS-assisted train information	82	18.5%
Car navigation system	51	11.5%
Location-aware email	51	11.5%
Traffic information search	36	8.1%
Route tracking, distance travelled calculator	30	6.8%
Other location-based information (child, other person locator, etc)	20	4.5%
Location-aware game	13	2.9%
Location annotation for photographs	13	2.9%
Other	3	0.7%
None of the above	99	22.3%