Patent Publication Number: US-2015065036-A1

Title: Near field communications for traffic and hazard mapping

Description:
FIELD 
     The subject matter described herein relates to navigation. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Navigation systems have become an increasingly common part of vehicles today. Indeed, many smartphones now carry turn-by-turn navigation applications that provide navigation, mapping, and other route information, such as traffic, hazards, and the like. More recently, navigation systems have added crowd-based sources of information. Rather than rely on expert traffic systems, any user can report traffic conditions using the turn-by-turn navigation application. The navigation system may then use the reports to enhance its navigation by providing more up to date, accurate traffic information, and the like. 
     SUMMARY 
     Methods and apparatus, including computer program products, are provided for reporting hazards and other events. In one aspect, there is provided a method. The method may include receiving, at a user equipment, an indication representative of a selection of a near field communication tag; determining, at the user equipment, an event assigned to the selected near field communication tag; determining a location corresponding to when the selection occurred; and sending, by the user equipment, a message including the event and the determined location. 
     In some variations, one or more of the features disclosed herein including the following features can optionally be included in any feasible combination. The indication may represent a radio frequency signal carrying an identifier for the near field communication tag. The user equipment may further include an application that programmatically sends the message without requiring user access to the application. The application may be at least one of always on and running in a background mode. The near field communication tag may be preconfigured to represent the event. The event may include at least one of a road hazard, a traffic condition, and a mapping error. The near field communication tag may comprise an active near field communication tag including a switch to enable selection. The near field communication tag may be removably affixed to at least one of a dashboard or a steering wheel. The sending may further include sending the message to a server, wherein the server aggregates traffic information from a plurality of user equipment and sends navigation information including alerts to a plurality of user equipment. 
     The above-noted aspects and features may be implemented in systems, apparatus, methods, and/or articles depending on the desired configuration. The details of one or more variations of the subject matter described herein are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the description below. Features and advantages of the subject matter described herein will be apparent from the description and drawings, and from the claims. 
    
    
     
       DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       In the drawings, 
         FIGS. 1A-1B  depict example systems for near field communication (NFC) based reporting of events, such as hazards, road conditions, and the like, in accordance with some exemplary embodiments; 
         FIG. 1C  depicts an example of a dashboard including NFC tags, in accordance with some example embodiments; 
         FIG. 2  depicts an example of a process for near field communication (NFC) based reporting of events, in accordance with some example embodiments; 
         FIG. 3  depicts an example of a user equipment, in accordance with some example embodiments; and 
         FIG. 4  depicts an example of a base station, in accordance with some example embodiments. 
     
    
    
     Like labels are used to refer to same or similar items in the drawings. 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Although mapping including navigations systems relying on crowd sourcing have become more prevalent, these systems may require a user to access a smartphone where the navigation system is resident in order to report traffic information. This may present at least two problems. First, it takes time for a user, such as a driver, to pick up the smartphone and report traffic condition. This time represents a hazardous driver distraction. Second, the reporting time actually decreases the accuracy of the reporting. For example, if it takes a driver 1 minute to report the traffic hazard, the reported location of the hazard, when the driver is going 60 miles per hour, may be incorrect by up to 1 mile. In some example embodiments, the subject matter disclosed herein provides near field communication (NFC) tags that can be readily accessed by a user, such as a driver, to report an event, such as a road hazard, traffic conditions, map errors, to a mapping application at a user equipment, such as a wireless device, smart phone, and the like. According to some example embodiments, an event may be referred to as a Point of Interest (POI) on a map or a navigation system. The mapping application may be configured to not require user access to the mapping application in order to report the event to a server. To illustrate by example, a driver encountering a road hazard, such as an object in the road, may select a NFC tag placed within, for example, easy reach of the driver. When selected, the NFC tag sends a radio frequency signal to the mapping application, which programmatically decodes the signal, determines the identity of the NFC tag and its corresponding function (which in this example is road hazard), determines the location when the NFC signal is received, and then reports at least the hazard and its location to a server. 
       FIG. 1A  depicts an example of a system  100  including a vehicle  199  including one or more near field communication (NFC) tags  192 A-D and a user equipment  114 , which further includes a mapping application  190 , in accordance with some example embodiments. 
     In some example embodiments, each of the NFC tags  192 A-D may be associated with a certain event, which may be reported to mapping application  190 . Moreover, NFC tags  192 A-D may be placed within easy reach of a user, such as a driver, of vehicle  199  (for example, placed on a steering wheel, dashboard, and the like). 
     To illustrate further, NFC tag  192 A may be implemented as a pressure sensitive NFC tag, which when selected (for example, by simply pressing the tag) sends a radio frequency signal identifying that NFC tag  192 A has been selected. This NFC signal may be received by user equipment  114  including mapping application  190 . The mapping application  190  may determine, based on the received NFC signal, the identity of the selected NFC tag and then determine the type of event corresponding to the NFC tag  192 A. For example, mapping application  190  and NFC tag  192 A may be configured, so that selecting NFC tag  192 A represents a certain event, such as a road hazard. In this example, when NFC tag  192 A is selected, the mapping application  190  may decode the received NFC signal to determine the identity of the NFC tag  192 A (or source of the NFC signal); determine the associated event, such as the road hazard (which may be pre-programmed or configured by a user); determine a geolocation of the vehicle  190 /user equipment  114  when the NFC tag  192 A was selected (for example, the corresponding vehicle  190  location as indicated by the mapping application  190  and/or a corresponding positioning/navigation system); and/or report the geolocation of the event/hazard to server  195  via a radio access network  112 A served by base station  110 A. 
     In some example embodiments, mapping application  190  may be a mobile application downloaded to user equipment  114 , although the mapping application may be provided in other ways as well. 
     Moreover, the mapping application  190  may, in some example embodiments, be configured to receive the NFC signal and report the location of the vehicle/user equipment, without requiring the user to access user equipment  114  to access, launch, and/or interact with mapping application  190  to report the event. For example, mobile application  190  may be configured as an always-on (or substantially always-on when in motion), run in a background, be part of the operating system of the user equipment, and/or deployed in other ways that does not require a user-driver to, for example, access the user equipment and interact with mobile application in order to report the event. 
     Although the previous example describes the event as a road hazard, NFC tags  192 A-D may be assigned to other events as well including for example, traffic conditions (for example, traffic jams and the like), map errors, construction, road hazards, school zones, police activity, emergency vehicles, children playing, ice or other weather related road conditions, parking availability, and the like. For example, NFC tag  192 B may be assigned the function of slow traffic, a traffic jam, and/or the like, so that when a driver encounters a traffic jam on a route being traveled, the driver selects NFC tag  192 B. In this example, mapping application  190  may decode the received NFC signal to determine the source NFC tag  192 B, determine the associated event, such as traffic jam, determine the location of the vehicle/traffic jam, and report the location of the traffic jam to server  195  via radio access network  112 A served by base station  110 A. 
     Another function event that may be assigned is map error. For example, NFC tag  192 C may be assigned to report a mapping error to indicate that a mapping or navigation function has an error at a certain location. To illustrate, mapping application  195  may provide navigation instructions, such as turn-by-turn navigation instructions. However, if an error is encountered in the navigation instructions (for example, a turn where no road exists, a turn into oncoming traffic, and the like), a driver may select NFC tag  192 C to report the event, which in this case is a map error. When the NFC signal is received by mapping application  190 , it may decode the received signal to determine the source NFC tag  192 C, determine the associated event/map error, determine the location of the vehicle/map error, and report the location of the map error to server  195  via radio access network  112 A served by base station  110 A. 
     Server  195  may receive the reported event (for example, road hazard, traffic jam, map error, and the like) and its corresponding location, and take an appropriate action, such as alert other users in the vicinity/route where the hazard, traffic jam, and/or map error is located. In some example embodiments, the alerts may be sent to a mapping application, such as mapping application  190 , to alert the user-drivers. The alert may be an audible alert, such as “you will be approaching a possible road hazard in 500 feet” or “you are approaching a traffic jam,” although the alert may be communicated to the driver in other ways as well including graphically, textually, and the like. In the case of map errors, the server  195  may take further corrective action to ensure that the mapping/navigation information is true (for example, by adding a road to the route database or indication the allowed access to the road). 
     In some example embodiments, the server  195  may receive reports a plurality of user equipment including mapping applications reporting events, such as road hazards, traffic jams, and map errors. When this is the case, the server  195  may be able to provide enhanced navigation given the breadth of information being provided by different users. Furthermore, the multi-user-provided-information may also be used to confirm the integrity of reported events. For example, when a plurality of user equipment report the same event, the event is more likely to be true. Moreover, if users stop reporting a certain event, that may indicate that the event may have lapsed (for example, the hazard removed, the traffic has subsided, and the like). When the server  195  receives information from a plurality of users, as noted, the users may be considered a “crowd,” and the corresponding aggregate information may represent “crowd sourced” event reporting, which can be used to identify and confirm the presence of events. 
       FIG. 1B  depicts an example of a system  100  but with the addition of an additional radio access network  112 B and an event  198 . For example, the vehicle  199  may include NFC tags  192 A-D placed within easy reach of a user-driver. When a driver detects an event  198 , such as a road hazard, a traffic event/traffic jam, a map error, road construction, and the like, the driver may select a corresponding NFC tag  192 A-D, which has been preconfigured for the given event. For example, if a driver of vehicle  199  traveling along Main Street sees a sofa in the middle of the road, the driver may select NFC tag  192 A, which has been configured to report road hazards. The mobile application  199  may then determine the corresponding event associated with the selected NFC tag  192 A signal and report the event along with the current location of vehicle  199  (or user equipment  114 /mobile application  190  therein) to server  195 . 
     In some example embodiments, mobile application  190  may, as noted, be configured in a way that does not require the user/driver to access user equipment  114  in order to launch and thus access the mobile application  190 . As such, mobile application  190  may be able to promptly report the event to server  195 , reducing thus any delays associated with reporting the event. By contrast, if a driver has to access user equipment  114  and manually report the hazard (for example, by unlocking user equipment  114 , launching the application, and so forth), a delay may correspond to an error in the reported location of the event/hazard (for example, at 60 miles per hour, a six second delay in reporting represents a location error of 1/10 th  of a mile). Accordingly, the use of NFC tags  192 A-D and mobile application  190  (which does not require access, launch, or other user intervention to report the event) may reduce the reporting delays and increase accuracy, when compared to systems requiring a driver to access the user equipment in order to report the event. 
       FIG. 1C  depicts an example of a dashboard  166  including one or more NFC tags  192 A-D, within easy reach of the driver. In some example embodiments, the NFC tags  192 A-D are self-stick tags, which can be removably affixed to the dashboard, steering wheel, and other locations in the vehicle, to allow a user-driver to place the NFC tags  192 A-D in any location that is within easy reach to the user/driver. In some example embodiments, the NFC tags  192 A-D may be prepositioned by, for example, a vehicle manufacturer, in which case the location of the tags is not user/driver configurable. However, the events assigned to each tag may, in some example embodiments, still be configurable by the user/driver. 
     Although some of the examples described herein refer to a specific quantity of NFC tags, other quantities of NFC tags may be used as well. Moreover, an NFC tag may be assigned more than one event. For example, NFC tag  192 A may be configured so that if it is selected once, the NFC signal represents a road hazard but a double-click may represent a traffic jam. 
       FIG. 2  depicts a process  200  for NFC signaling of mapping events, in accordance with some example embodiments. The description of  FIG. 2  also refers to  FIG. 1A . 
     At  205 , mobile application  190  may, in some example embodiments, receive a radio frequency signal representative of an indication that an NFC tag has been selected by a user, such as a driver of vehicle  199 . For example, an NFC tag may be configured to represent a certain event, such as a road hazard, a traffic condition, a mapping error, and the like. Moreover, the NFC tag may be an active NFC tag including a switch, so that depressing or otherwise selecting the NFC tag causes a radio signal including an identifier of the NFC tag to be transmitted by the NFC tag to the user equipment  114  configured with an NFC transceiver to detect the transmitted NFC signal. 
     At  210 , mobile application  190  may, in some example embodiments, determine an event associated with received signal representative of the selected NFC tag. For example, NFC tags  192 A-D may be preconfigured, so that each tag is associated with a certain event. As noted above, NFC tag  192 A may be associated with a road hazard, NFC tag  192 B may be associated with a traffic jam, and so forth. As such, when the NFC signal is received at  205  and then decoded to determine the identity of the NFC tag that transmitted the NFC signal, the mobile application may determine a corresponding event, such as a road hazard, traffic jam, and the like. 
     In some example embodiments, a location may be determined, at  215 , for the event. For example, when mobile application  190  receives the NFC signal, the mobile application  190  may determine the location of vehicle  199  by, for example, accessing location information from mapping application  190  (or another position or navigation system). This location may provide the location of the vehicle  199 , and thus represent the approximate location of the event, such the hazard, traffic jam, and the like. In some example embodiments, the location corresponds to when the NFC signal is received, so that mapping application  190  can determine a location of vehicle  199  at the time of signal receipt. For example, if the NFC signal is received at 0900 hours and 00 seconds, the mapping application may use the vehicle location at 0900:00 as the location of the event. In some example embodiments, the time the NFC signal is received is corrected to adjust for minor delays associated with transmission and processing between the NFC tag and mobile application  190 . In any case, the event may be associated with a location and/or a time. 
     At  220 , mobile application  190  may report the event including the location and/or the time to server  190 . For example, mobile application  190  may send a message to server  195 , and the message may include an event type (for example, road hazard, traffic jam, and the like), a location for the event, and/or a timestamp when the event occurred. The server  195  may then alert the event to other user equipment/mobile applications by sending an alert, such as a message, via base stations/radio access networks. Moreover, server  195  may, in some example embodiments, receive messages from a plurality of user equipment  114  including mobile applications  190  and aggregate the received event information. This crowd-sourced information may, in some example embodiments, provide a greater breadth of event information, which may augment navigation and mapping. Moreover, the crowd-sourced information may, in some example embodiments, improve confidence in the validity and reliability of the information at server  195  and/or provided to user-drivers as alerts. 
     Referring again to  FIG. 1A , user equipment  114  may be referred to as, for example, a mobile station, a mobile unit, a subscriber station, a wireless terminal, a tablet, a smartphone, a wireless device, or the like. The user equipment may be implemented as, for example, a wireless handheld device, a wireless plug-in accessory, or the like. 
     In the example of  FIG. 1A , base stations  110 A and  110 B may be configured as an evolved Node B (eNB) base station serving macrocells  112 A and  112 B (also referred to herein as cells and coverage areas). Moreover, when base stations  110 A and  110 B are implemented as an eNB type base station, as noted above, the base stations may be configured in accordance with standards, including the Long Term Evolution (LTE) standards, such as for example 3GPP TS 36.201, Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); Long Term Evolution (LTE) physical layer; General description, 3GPP TS 36.211, Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); Physical channels and modulation, 3GPP TS 36.212, Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); Multiplexing and channel coding, 3GPP TS 36.213, Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); Physical layer procedures, 3GPP TS 36.214, Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); Physical layer—Measurements, and any subsequent additions or revisions to these and other 3GPP series of standards (collectively referred to as LTE standards). The base stations  110 A and  110 B may also be configured to provide other types of air interfaces, such as various first generation (1G) communication protocols, second generation (2G or 2.5G) communication protocols, third-generation (3G) communication protocols, fourth-generation (4G) communication protocols, and/or any other wireless access network communication protocols. Although certain standards and technologies are described, these are merely examples as other standards and technologies may be used as well. 
     System  100  may include wireless access links. These access links may include downlinks for transmitting to user equipment and an uplink for transmitting from user equipment to a base station. The downlinks and uplinks may each comprise a modulated radio frequency carrying information, such as for example user data (for example, event reports including event type, location, and/or time), control messages, and the like. 
     Moreover, access points  110 A-B may include links, such as for example backhaul links, to other networks (for example, other mobile networks, the Internet, and the like), network nodes, server  195 , and the like. Server  195  may be coupled via wireless or wired back haul links (or connections) to a base station, such as base station  110 A. Server  195  may include at least one memory including computer program code configured to provide navigation/mapping information, receive crowd sourced event reporting, send alerts to users, and the like. 
     Although  FIGS. 1A-1C  depicts specific quantities of devices (for example, a single user equipment, four NFC tags, and so forth), other quantities may be used as well. 
       FIG. 3  illustrates a block diagram of an apparatus  10 , which can be configured as user equipment, in accordance with some example embodiments. 
     The apparatus  10  may include at least one antenna  12  in communication with a transmitter  14  and a receiver  16 . Alternatively transmit and receive antennas may be separate. 
     The apparatus  10  may also include a processor  20  configured to provide signals to and receive signals from the transmitter and receiver, respectively, and to control the functioning of the apparatus. Processor  20  may be configured to control the functioning of the transmitter and receiver by effecting control signaling via electrical leads to the transmitter and receiver. Likewise processor  20  may be configured to control other elements of apparatus  10  by effecting control signaling via electrical leads connecting processor  20  to the other elements, such as for example a display or a memory. The processor  20  may, for example, be embodied in a variety of ways including circuitry, at least one processing core, one or more microprocessors with accompanying digital signal processor(s), one or more processor(s) without an accompanying digital signal processor, one or more coprocessors, one or more multi-core processors, one or more controllers, processing circuitry, one or more computers, various other processing elements including integrated circuits (for example, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), and/or the like), or some combination thereof. Apparatus  10  may include a location processor and/or an interface to obtain location information, such as positioning and/or navigation information. Accordingly, although illustrated in  FIG. 3  as a single processor, in some example embodiments the processor  20  may comprise a plurality of processors or processing cores. 
     Signals sent and received by the processor  20  may include signaling information in accordance with an air interface standard of an applicable cellular system, and/or any number of different wireline or wireless networking techniques, comprising but not limited to Wi-Fi, wireless local access network (WLAN) techniques, such as for example, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11, 802.16, and/or the like. In addition, these signals may include speech data, user generated data, user requested data, and/or the like. 
     The apparatus  10  may be capable of operating with one or more air interface standards, communication protocols, modulation types, access types, and/or the like. For example, the apparatus  10  and/or a cellular modem therein may be capable of operating in accordance with various first generation (1G) communication protocols, second generation (2G or 2.5G) communication protocols, third-generation (3G) communication protocols, fourth-generation (4G) communication protocols, Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) communication protocols (for example, session initiation protocol (SIP) and/or the like. For example, the apparatus  10  may be capable of operating in accordance with 2G wireless communication protocols IS-136, Time Division Multiple Access TDMA, Global System for Mobile communications, GSM, IS-95, Code Division Multiple Access, CDMA, and/or the like. In addition, for example, the apparatus  10  may be capable of operating in accordance with 2.5G wireless communication protocols General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), Enhanced Data GSM Environment (EDGE), and/or the like. Further, for example, the apparatus  10  may be capable of operating in accordance with 3G wireless communication protocols, such as for example, Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), Code Division Multiple Access 2000 (CDMA2000), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), Time Division-Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access (TD-SCDMA), and/or the like. The apparatus  10  may be additionally capable of operating in accordance with 3.9G wireless communication protocols, such as for example, Long Term Evolution (LTE), Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN), and/or the like. Additionally, for example, the apparatus  10  may be capable of operating in accordance with 4G wireless communication protocols, such as for example LTE Advanced and/or the like as well as similar wireless communication protocols that may be subsequently developed. 
     It is understood that the processor  20  may include circuitry for implementing audio/video and logic functions of apparatus  10 . For example, the processor  20  may comprise a digital signal processor device, a microprocessor device, an analog-to-digital converter, a digital-to-analog converter, and/or the like. Control and signal processing functions of the apparatus  10  may be allocated between these devices according to their respective capabilities. The processor  20  may additionally comprise an internal voice coder (VC)  20   a , an internal data modem (DM)  20   b , and/or the like. Further, the processor  20  may include functionality to operate one or more software programs, which may be stored in memory. In general, processor  20  and stored software instructions may be configured to cause apparatus  10  to perform actions. For example, processor  20  may be capable of operating a connectivity program, such as for example, a web browser. The connectivity program may allow the apparatus  10  to transmit and receive web content, such as for example location-based content, according to a protocol, such as for example, wireless application protocol, WAP, hypertext transfer protocol, HTTP, and/or the like. 
     Apparatus  10  may also comprise a user interface including, for example, an earphone or speaker  24 , a ringer  22 , a microphone  26 , a display  28 , a user input interface, and/or the like, which may be operationally coupled to the processor  20 . The display  28  may, as noted above, include a touch sensitive display, where a user may touch and/or gesture to make selections, enter values, and/or the like. The processor  20  may also include user interface circuitry configured to control at least some functions of one or more elements of the user interface, such as for example, the speaker  24 , the ringer  22 , the microphone  26 , the display  28 , and/or the like. The processor  20  and/or user interface circuitry comprising the processor  20  may be configured to control one or more functions of one or more elements of the user interface through computer program instructions, for example, software and/or firmware, stored on a memory accessible to the processor  20 , for example, volatile memory  40 , non-volatile memory  42 , and/or the like. The apparatus  10  may include a battery for powering various circuits related to the mobile terminal, for example, a circuit to provide mechanical vibration as a detectable output. The user input interface may comprise devices allowing the apparatus  20  to receive data, such as for example, a keypad  30  (which can be a virtual keyboard presented on display  28  or an externally coupled keyboard) and/or other input devices. 
     As shown in  FIG. 3 , apparatus  10  may also include one or more mechanisms for sharing and/or obtaining data. For example, the apparatus  10  may include a near field communication radio interface  64 A. Moreover, the apparatus  10  may include a short-range radio frequency (RF) transceiver and/or interrogator  64 , so data may be shared with and/or obtained from electronic devices in accordance with RF techniques. The apparatus  10  may include other short-range transceivers, such as for example an infrared (IR) transceiver  66 , a Bluetooth (BT) transceiver  68  operating using Bluetooth wireless technology, a wireless universal serial bus (USB) transceiver  70 , and/or the like. The Bluetooth transceiver  68  may be capable of operating according to low power or ultra-low power Bluetooth technology, for example, Wibree, radio standards. In this regard, the apparatus  10  and, in particular, the short-range transceiver may be capable of transmitting data to and/or receiving data from electronic devices within a proximity of the apparatus, such as for example within 10 meters. The apparatus  10  including the WiFi or wireless local area networking modem may also be capable of transmitting and/or receiving data from electronic devices according to various wireless networking techniques, including 6LoWpan, Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi low power, WLAN techniques such as for example IEEE 802.11 techniques, IEEE 802.15 techniques, IEEE 802.16 techniques, and/or the like. 
     The apparatus  10  may comprise memory, such as for example, a subscriber identity module (SIM)  38 , a removable user identity module (R-UIM), and/or the like, which may store information elements related to a mobile subscriber. In addition to the SIM, the apparatus  10  may include other removable and/or fixed memory. The apparatus  10  may include volatile memory  40  and/or non-volatile memory  42 . For example, volatile memory  40  may include Random Access Memory (RAM) including dynamic and/or static RAM, on-chip or off-chip cache memory, and/or the like. Non-volatile memory  42 , which may be embedded and/or removable, may include, for example, read-only memory, flash memory, magnetic storage devices, for example, hard disks, floppy disk drives, magnetic tape, optical disc drives and/or media, non-volatile random access memory (NVRAM), and/or the like. Like volatile memory  40 , non-volatile memory  42  may include a cache area for temporary storage of data. At least part of the volatile and/or non-volatile memory may be embedded in processor  20 . The memories may store one or more software programs (for example, mobile application  190 ), instructions, pieces of information, data, and/or the like which may be used by the apparatus for performing functions of the user equipment/mobile terminal. The memories may comprise an identifier, such as for example an international mobile equipment identification (IMEI) code, capable of uniquely identifying apparatus  10 . The functions may include one or more of the operations disclosed herein with respect to the user equipment, such as for example the functions disclosed at process  200 . The memories may comprise an identifier, such as for example, an international mobile equipment identification (IMEI) code, capable of uniquely identifying apparatus  10 . In the example embodiment, the processor  20  may be configured using computer code stored at memory  40  and/or  42  to receive NFC signals from NFC tags, determine a corresponding event for the selected NFC tag, determine a location corresponding to when the selection occurred, send a message including the event and the determined location, and/or the like as disclosed herein. 
       FIG. 4  depicts an example implementation of a network node  400 , such as for example a base station and the like. The network node  400  may include one or more antennas  420  configured to transmit via a downlink and configured to receive uplinks via the antenna(s)  420 . The network node  400  may include or be coupled to server  195 . The network node  400  may further include a plurality of radio interfaces  440  coupled to the antenna  420 . The radio interfaces may correspond one or more of the following: Long Term Evolution (LTE, or E-UTRAN), Third Generation (3G, UTRAN, or high-speed packet access (HSPA)), and Global System for Mobile communications (GSM), wireless local area network (WLAN) technology, and any other radio technologies. The radio interface  440  may further include other components, such as filters, converters (for example, digital-to-analog converters and the like), mappers, a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) module, and the like, to generate symbols for a transmission via one or more downlinks and to receive symbols (for example, via an uplink). The network node  400  may further include one or more processors, such as for example processor  430 , for controlling the network node  400  and for accessing and executing program code stored in memory  435 . In some example embodiments, memory  435  includes code, which when executed by at least one processor causes one or more of the operations described herein with respect to network node, such as for example a base station, access point, and the like. For example, network node  400  may receive messages from one or more user equipment reporting the location of events, forward messages to a server  195 , send alerts to user equipment, and the like. 
     Some of the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented in software, hardware, application logic, or a combination of software, hardware, and application logic. The software, application logic, and/or hardware may reside on memory  40 , the control apparatus  20 , or electronic components, for example. In some example embodiment, the application logic, software or an instruction set is maintained on any one of various conventional computer-readable media. In the context of this document, a “computer-readable medium” may be any non-transitory media that can contain, store, communicate, propagate or transport the instructions for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device, such as for example a computer or data processor circuitry, with examples depicted at  FIGS. 3 and 4 . A computer-readable medium may comprise a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that may be any media that can contain or store the instructions for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device, such as for example a computer. Furthermore, some of the embodiments disclosed herein include computer programs configured to cause methods as disclosed herein (see, for example, process  200  and/or the like). 
     Without in any way limiting the scope, interpretation, or application of the claims appearing below, a technical effect of one or more of the example embodiments disclosed herein is providing more precise location information to a navigation information server. 
     If desired, the different functions discussed herein may be performed in a different order and/or concurrently with each other. Furthermore, if desired, one or more of the above-described functions may be optional or may be combined. Although various aspects of the invention are set out in the independent claims, other aspects of the invention comprise other combinations of features from the described embodiments and/or the dependent claims with the features of the independent claims, and not solely the combinations explicitly set out in the claims. It is also noted herein that while the above describes example embodiments, these descriptions should not be viewed in a limiting sense. Rather, there are several variations and modifications that may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention as defined in the appended claims. Other embodiments may be within the scope of the following claims. The term “based on” includes “based on at least.”