Knowing the exact minute your bus will arrive despite weather or traffic conditions is no easy feat, but with the help of a new technology from a University of Wisconsin professor, it may soon be as easy as checking your cell phone.

Called “location aware services,” the technology developed by UW computer sciences professor Jignesh Patel and his company Locomatix uses smart phone applications and database tools to track the location of nearly anything — including people — in real time, according to a release from UW.

Location aware services take advantage of “the cloud of information” transmitted by computers, smart phones, GPS tools and other devices to automatically and continuously retrieve data about the location of the things users are interested in, Patel said in a statement.

For instance, the technology could tell exactly when a bus will arrive at a certain stop or locate a friend in a busy airport simply by using a phone application.

The statement said his system “constantly takes in data, blends it and mixes and matches to figure out who needs what information when and delivers it.” This makes mobile devices proactive, unlike traditional Web technology, which requires users to actively seek information, according to the statement.

Currently, Locomatix is using smart phone applications and publicly available GPS data from the Chicago Transit Authority and Madison Metro buses to test the new location aware services.

“[Patel’s technology] will help new riders come to the (bus) system, and it’ll also help existing riders better utilize the system,” Madison Metro spokesperson Mick Rusch said.

Rusch added knowing exactly when a bus will arrive just by using a cell phone can make people more comfortable about their riding experiences.

While UW journalism professor Robert Drechsel agrees knowing bus arrival times is convenient, the potential for using the technology to find people could have some privacy issues.

“I want to be sure that before you can discover whether I’m nearby, I have had to do something to affirmatively make myself available for that purpose,” Drechsel said. “I don’t want to have to be in the position of having to turn something off such that the default mode is that I’m always discoverable.”

Patel, however, said in the release his company is aware of privacy issues and the data that goes through the company’s servers is scrambled and is not archived to alleviate some privacy concerns.

But Drechsel remained optimistic about Patel’s system despite possible privacy concerns.

“It’s a pretty exciting technology, but it’s like any other technology — it has the potential to be used for a whole variety of incredibly practical, useful things, and undoubtedly the potential is there for it to be misused too,” Drechsel said.

He added he was encouraged to see that Patel and his company seemed sensitive to the privacy issues with the location aware services.