Location-based services platform

A system for providing location based services, the system comprising:

• a client application comprising computer program code stored on a computer readable medium and configured to be executed by a processor of a mobile device to cause the mobile device to perform a process comprising:
• obtaining location data from the mobile device, the location data related to a current location of the mobile device, and
• communicating the location information and an identifier for the mobile device over a network used by the mobile device;
• and
• a location based services (LBS) platform server configured to communicate with one or more mobile devices executing the client application via the network, the LBS platform server comprising:
• a device identifier store maintaining a plurality of device identifiers, each device identifier uniquely identifying one of the mobile devices, the device identifier store configured to identify a mobile device using a received device identifier,
• a location calculator configured to determine the location of a mobile device using location data provided by the mobile device,
• a location database containing the location determined by the location calculator for the mobile devices, each determined location associated with the identifier of the corresponding mobile device,
• a device-provider association table configured to:
• receive a request from a third-party service provider, the request including a provider identifier uniquely identifying the third-party service provider and user-specific data uniquely identifying a user of the third-party service provider;
• and
• map the received provider identifier and the received user-specific data to a device identifier associated with a mobile device corresponding to the user of the third-party service provider;
• and
• a third-party services server configured to receive a device identifier from the device-provider association table and access the location database to provide location information for the mobile device associated with the received device identifier to the third-party service provider.