Patent ID: 7142843

Claim:
A geographical information system comprising: a public access wireless local area network station with a low-power local coverage area substantially smaller than a coverage area of a base station node of a cellular network, the public access wireless local area network station operative to wirelessly communicate with one or more user mobile devices, and to provide connectivity to a remote network server via an Internet, the public access wireless local area network station further operative to wirelessly transmit at least one unsolicited data packet into its low-power local coverage area, wherein the unsolicited data packet contains an identifier; and a wireless user device configured to receive the unsolicited data packet, to compare the identifier to one or more stored user-configured preference parameters and to selectively generate a user-selectable notification for display to a user associated with the wireless user device when the comparison generates a positive result; wherein the user has the ability to select the user-selectable notification, and in response to the selection, a request packet is wirelessly sent from the wireless user device to the public access wireless local area network station and forwarded via the Internet to the remote network server, and in response, a set of content related to the notification is downloaded to the wireless user device from the remote network server.