TeleCommunication Systems(TCS) rolled out a pair of new location based services (LBS) today: TCS Asset Locator and TCS People Locator.

The company said TCS Asset Locator is a low-cost, on-demand mobile resource management solution for small and medium-sized businesses that rely on a mobile field workforce. It is designed to allow wireless carriers to offer businesses a Web-based solution that allows managers and dispatchers to easily view the location of field workers using the embedded GPS technology in a cell phone and a mapping display on a PC.

Key benefits of the platform, according to TCS, include the ability to:

-- Identify the location of workers either by address or on a Web-based map display;
-- Locate or send messages to groups of workers;
-- Point and click to send messages to any located worker or group of workers (PC-to-phone messaging);
-- Send driving directions to workers to get to the next job or back to the office from their current location; and
-- Find points of interest near the worker's current location (e.g. nearest gas station, ATM, restaurant).

As for TCS People Locator, it is an application that provides consumers with the option to securely share their location with family and friends, as well as obtain other location-based information such as Points-Of-Interest. There's even a feature that allows folks to create Geo-zones that alert them when a family member or friend has entered or exited a particular geographic area (e.g. school, home, nearby).

The company said this application launched with an undisclosed "major US carrier" last month.