It looks like “Pinnacle,” a vertical positioning service that checks the height of a smartphone’s location, now supports Nishinomiya City too.
(Information provided by Iroha @ Nishitsu SP)
Quoted from Service Area | MetCom Co., Ltd.
This service called “Pinnacle(Pinnacle)” seems to be an ultra-precise location measurement service that can even tell which floor of a building you’re on.
Apparently, it figures out what height you’re at by comparing the pressure sensor built into your smartphone with barometric pressure data from local base stations.
This service launched in central Tokyo and Osaka in October 2022. From April 2024, it seems to have expanded to areas including Sapporo, Sendai, Saitama, Kawasaki, Yokohama, Funabashi, Urayasu, Chiba, Nagoya, Otsu, Kyoto, Sakai, Amagasaki, Nishinomiya, Kobe, Hiroshima, and Fukuoka.
For example, say a child gets lost while shopping at Nishinomiya Gardens. Assuming they have a smartphone, this service seems like it could help you find them quickly, no matter which floor they’re on.
Another possible use, though maybe less common, would be if someone got lost while hiking on Mount Kabuto in Nishinomiya, or in the event of a fire. Since it can accurately identify which floor people are on, it seems like it could be useful for rescue operations too.
In Closing
GPS has always shown “where you are,” but being able to tell “what height you’re at” too feels like a pretty futuristic technology, doesn’t it? For now, it seems the only app that supports this is one called appTown. I’d love to make a Nishitsu app and have this as a default feature someday.
*Iroha @ Nishitsu SP, thank you very much for the information!!
■■■We’re looking for tips and information!■■■
