FAQ

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Q. I'm curious about the acquired Wi-Fi signals’ accuracy of loplat location technology.

A. The signals we collect vary from environment to environment but have an accuracy of 90% or more. However, the Wi-Fi signal may change due to the closing of a store or remodeling, and the signal accuracy may decrease over time.

We compensate for the above issues and maintain high signal accuracy; The collected signals are continuously monitored internally to ensure that performance is not affected, and signals are periodically re-collected as necessary.

GPS doesn’t work indoors, but we create location information by measuring Wi-Fi signal intensity/pattern around particular places. So, you can measure information such as what stores users have visited, which floor they were on, etc.

Q. Is location recognition possible if the Wi-Fi environment changes?

A. Location recognition is still possible because it analyzes multiple Wi-Fi signals installed around, not just a single signal. In addition, we update the Wi-Fi Fingerprint database regularly to maintain its accuracy.

Q. Should a smartphone’s Wi-Fi be turned on to recognize its location?

A. Android smartphone can scan Wi-Fi by activating only the location (GPS and Location) setting. Apple's iOS policy doesn’t allow Wi-Fi scanning, but location recognition is still possible with in-store Wi-Fi information and Bluetooth Beacon scanning.

Android

iOS

GPS

O

O

Wi-Fi

O

X

Bluetooth

X

O

  • Android 6.0 onwards requires GPS to be turned on.

  • Even revoking Wi-Fi on the smartphone's quick-bar allows recognizing its location.

  • ‘Wi-Fi scanning’ must be disabled in Settings → Connections → Location → Improve Accuracy to stop location recognition. (It is rare for users to follow this path and turn off the Wi-Fi connection).

  • In addition to collecting location data with Wi-Fi Fingerprint tech, Android can also collect data with GPS.

  • In the ‘Improving Accuracy’ settings, if ‘Wi-Fi scanning’ is revoked and only GPS is turned on, we can only read the location value of the GPS-based area (city-level, district-level, etc.).

  • iOS works differently from how Android works.

  • Because Apple does not allow iOS's Wi-Fi Fingerprint technology, location data can be collected with Bluetooth fingerprint technology and GPS instead.

  • If a user's smartphone location setting is deactivated, you can estimate a location when connected to Wi-Fi with a static IP address.

Q. Is location recognition very difficult on iOS?

A. Most stores have Wi-Fi environments, but the Bluetooth environment still needs improvement. In environments where Bluetooth Fingerprint technology does not collect data, location recognition is possible when collecting GPS-based location values or a user connects to Wi-Fi with a static IP address.

Currently, loplat is the only company in Korea that can collect location data from iOS. Although iOS location data may be lacking compared to Android’s, its merit is still very high. The domestic smartphone market is estimated to account for 80% of the total share of Android, so there will be no problem using data.

Q. Is collecting location data violate the Personal Information Protection Act?

A. The data we use in our data business includes only basic information to distinguish between different smartphones. Therefore, the identification value for the smartphone owner isn't collected and is strictly managed under the Location Information Protection Act, and it will not be directly linked with personal information.

loplat's Data Collection

As a location information company, we provide location information company terms of use and location recognition results to location-based service companies based on these.

loplat’s Data Collection Architecture

Q. What is MAU?

A. It means Monthly Active Users (MAU). This indicates the number of pure users using the service during a month. We are processing more than 2 billion location data monthly from about 5 million MAUs as of ‘22.

  • loplat processes data based on unique values issued from each device. So, even if a user visits ten places daily, they can be collected under one Unique ID to understand the customer's journey.

  • If a customer has location data enabled at least once a month in an app with the loplat SDK installed, that customer is aggregated into MAU for that month. Even though a user was aggregated into MAU last month, if the user’s location data is not active this month, the user won’t be aggregated into this month’s MAU.

Q. What is SDK?

A. It means Software Development Kit (SDK). You can mount the SDK in your mobile app to recognize user store visits and identify their indoor/outdoor locations.

  • SDK capacity is 248KB based on the Android 2.0.9.6 version / 8.5MB based on iOS 1.4.3

Q. What is POI?

A. It means Point of Interest (POI). We periodically increase the POI data of stores across the country to understand users' offline journeys and to support marketing activities. POI is the store location data that we collect Wi-Fi signals and information. Below is the aggregate status of POIs.

  • About 750,000 POIs as of November 2022

Q. I want to communicate with loplat developers. Where can I make technical inquiries?

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