Windows Sensor and Location Platform

Windows Sensor and Location Platform is a new development platform from Microsoft that facilitates the use of sensors, including location sensors such as GPS devices, in the Windows 7 operating system.

Windows 7 includes native support for sensors, expanded by a new development platform for working with sensors, including location sensors, such as GPS devices. The Windows Sensor and Location Platform provides a standard way for device manufacturers to expose sensor devices to software developers and consumers, while providing developers with a standardized API for working with sensors and sensor data.

Some of the possible sensors taking advantage of this technology are: GPS, Accelerometer, Proximity, Light, RFID, Compass, Camera, Microphone, Temperature, Moisture, Motion detector, Traffic, Weather station.

Sensor manufacturers can create device drivers to connect sensors with Windows 7. Sensor device drivers are implemented using the Windows Portable Devices (WPD) driver model, which is based on the Windows User Mode Driver Framework (UMDF).

The Sensor and Location Platform will join the Touch Technology in Windows 7 and Windows Mobile 7. With Windows Mobile 7 which will be released second half next year, Microsoft is entering the “touch phone” market dominated by Google’s Android and Apple’s iPhone. Microsoft is working closely with Motorola and Samsung on producing “iPhone killers” as soon as possible. There are rumors about an intermediary Windows Mobile 6.5 which we think are not true.

Microsoft is also working with Dell and HP on new generation laptops that will be touch enabled, location aware, will have proximity and light sensors. We suspect Microsoft is also working with Tablet PC producers on new generation of Tablet PC’s, but we are not able to confirm it.

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