译文/Translated：
或许有时候不明显，不过现代生活的便利很大程度上来源于基于位置的服务（LBS）。用优步叫车、用Postmate叫外卖、用Garmin Connect记录跑步路线、玩Pokémon Go抓宠物，这些都证明我们的生活质量因为LBS app变得更好。但是，这些便利是有代价的，而且这是很严峻的代价，因为你的数据隐私会受到损害，更糟糕的是，它们会被卖给公司谋取利益。
随着越来越多大科技公司手机客户位置数据的指控浮出水面，有创造力的企业家和开发者开始寻求基于区块链的解决方法，让位置追踪对所有人更加安全和透明。其中一个就是Platin，它是一款位置验证协议，支持去中心化的位置验证。中心化的LBS公司往往在位置信息上占据垄断地位，但是，位置验证能够通过基于用户对地理空间数据的掌控从而实现了区块链的承诺。其中，用户的权力表现在：因为这些数据在加密方式上不可变，所以它们不能被外部篡改，同时，它还可以保证在不揭露个人信息的前提下识别个人位置。
要实现这点，用户只需要安装Platin应用就可以实现所谓的“信号采集”，这个过程本质上是在智能手机上检测、收集和验证数字信号和元数据。长远来看，当越来越多的用户参与信号采集，他们就可以“描绘一个无线信号的世界”，这“（对于未来需要位置验证的人来说）是验证位置证明的一个主要组成部分。”Platin采用的是代币激励的方式，它工作的原理是这样的：用户先把自己基于EOS的代币放在某个位置上，另一个人如果能够在该位置验证自己的定位，他就可以获得这个代币。或者他们还可以用EOS代币激励人们参加安全验证。LBS应用收集到的信息被传统的位置服务提供商持有，并存储在它们的数据库中，与之相反，位置验证基于区块链基础架构，换言之，用户不需要暴露自己的个人信息就可以验证他们在某个地方的定位，同时，还可以因为该行为获得奖励。
但是，把激励和安全位置追踪结合在一起这个想法最初是怎么产生的呢？Platin联合创办人和CEO Allon Mason是一位连续创业的企业家，还在区块链技术的布道者，他在以色列的科技领域已经有十几年的经验了。这次，他告诉我们，这个项目之所以会诞生，原因是他们敏锐地意识到，普通人觉得数字资产这个概念本身已经太难理解了，更不用说实际应用了。“先前我们就意识到，如果你不是区块链的爱好者，那数字货币的学习曲线就太难了，这就让我们意识到，位置特征可能会让加密货币更加‘真实’和‘有形’，”他说，“所以，Platin团队开始关注位置安全和位置见证，把它们作为共识协议进行研究，最终就推动了Platin的诞生。”
迄今为止，因为Platin在各个行业的适用性，它已经和多个跨国公司、政府部门和学术机构合作，其中包括7&i holdings （7-11的母公司）、东京都政府、和Technion（以色列理工学院）等。“我们还在不断发展我们的协议，以便未来支持为商业和人道主义事业提供带激励的空投，同时还会实施KYC和地址验证提供集成的解决方法。”Mason继续说。随着Platin技术的不断成熟，该团队希望，未来企业和政府在涉及和位置相关的活动时能把EOSIO上的Platin作为减少摩擦和成本的一个方式。比如说供应链，其中的物资来源和物流追踪都是很重要的；再比如货币的地理围栏，它可以防止某经济区域以外的投机者操控该地区的货币价值。
达成Platin目标的核心毫无疑问是区块链技术及其带来的独到的优点。“区块链提供了不可变更的数据和共识算法，在我们破坏中心化的地理空间市场的任务中，这个特点是至关重要的。除了让用户从孤立的位置服务提供商那里获得对地理空间数据的控制以外，位置认证还带来安全和私人的位置见证，这是过去不可实现的，”Mason这么评论。而这个团队会选择要建立在EOSIO之上是因为“Platin这类的复杂的位置认证需要规模化和良好的性能，而EOSIO具备了这些条件。EOSIO在用户真实性、治理透明度、编程简易性、和规模性上具有得天独厚的有点”，通过是“能够利用C++编码从一开始就加快了Platin的整合和部署过程，”Mason补充说。
自从项目启动以来，EOSIO开发者社区对于Platin在信号采集应用和其它平台上支持EOS的前景表示极大的热情，Block.one的EOS全球黑客马拉松旧金山站的参赛者获得了Platin地理空间空投的第一手体验。Platin这样的一款app具有划时代的潜力，它或许能让我们能够重新定义通过技术获得信任，所以，它把自己定位为Web 3.0革命前沿的开拓者之一。
更多关于Platin应用的信息，请访问https://platin.io
关注我们的EOSIO热点系列，我们会介绍在我们平台上建立的一些非常优秀的项目。如果您想和我们分享您的项目，请发邮件到spotlight@block.one.
–开发者关系团队
免责声明
软件公司Block.one是EOSIO软件的生产者，该软件是一个免费、开源的协议。该软件可以在其它东西的辅助之下帮助用户启动区块链或者其它各类特征的去中心化应用。更多信息，请访问https://github.com/eosio。对于任何想在未来可能采用或应用的任何版本的EOSIO平台担任区块生产者的公司，Block.one都不会给予任何资金支持。
Block.one自己不会开展任何基于EOSIO软件的初始公链。第三方，社区，和/或希望成为区块生产者的公司，的唯一责任是以他们选择的任意方式、任意特点、和/或提供的任意服务采用和应用EOSIO软件。Block.one不能保证任何人都会采用或实施这些特点或提供这些服务，也不保证EOS.IO软件会以任何形式被采用和实施。
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原文/Original：
Perhaps it is not always obvious, but much of modern convenience owes to the benefits brought about by Location-Based Services (LBS). From finding rides on Uber to having food delivered to your doorstep by Postmates, tracking your jogging route with Garmin Connect to collecting characters on Pokémon Go, there is no doubt that our quality of life has changed for the better with the advent of LBS apps. But such convenience has also come at a cost, and a grave one at that — having your data privacy compromised and even worse, sold to companies for commercial gain.
As more and more accusations of big tech companies collecting customer location data come to the fore, innovative entrepreneurs and developers have started to devise blockchain-based solutions to make tracking more secure and transparent for all. One of these is Platin, a Proof-of-Location protocol that enables decentralized location verification. Unlike centralized LBS companies with a monopoly on location information, Proof-of-Location delivers on the promise of blockchain by giving back users power over their geospatial data, namely by making such data cryptographically immutable and thus untamperable by external parties, as well as by enabling private location witnessing without requiring the need to reveal personal information.
To do this, one can simply install the Platin app to carry out what they call ‘signal harvesting’, which essentially refers to the detection, collection, and verification of digital signals and meta data on a smartphone. In the long run, as more users partake in signal harvesting, they can “map [out] a world of wireless signals”, which serves as “a primary component contributing to verified location proofs (for those who will be requesting such verifications in the future).” Adopting the principle of token incentivization, the way Platin works is that users can place their EOS-based token in a location for another person to pick up once they verify their presence at that given location, or use EOS tokens to incentivize witnesses to participate in secure verifications. Contrary to information gathered from LBS apps, which are owned by and stored in the database of traditional location service providers, Proof-of-Location is based on a blockchain infrastructure, which means that users can securely verify their presence at a certain location without exposing details about their personal identity, all the while receiving rewards for the act of verification.
But how did the idea of marrying token incentives with secure location tracking come about in the first place? As both a serial entrepreneur and a blockchain evangelist who has been involved in the Israeli tech scene for more than a decade, Allon Mason, Co-Founder and CEO of Platin, explains how the project spawned from the acute awareness that people found digital assets too hard of a concept to grasp, let alone use for practical purposes. “Early on, we had realized that the learning curve for digital currency was overly challenging for non-blockchain enthusiasts, which led us to the insight that location characteristics could make cryptocurrency more ‘real’ and physical,” he says. “So the Platin team started looking into location security and location witnessing as a consensus protocol, which gave birth to the Platin app.”
So far, Platin’s applicability for many industry use cases has garnered them cooperation with a number of multinational companies, government bodies and academic institutions such as 7&i holdings (the parent company of 7-Eleven), Tokyo Metropolitan Government, and the Technion — Israel Institute of Technology, among many others. “We have been working on our protocol to further support incentivized airdrops for both commercial and humanitarian efforts, as well as to implement integrated solutions for KYC and address verification,” adds Mason. As Platin’s technology matures, it is the team’s hope that enterprises and governments will see Platin on EOSIO as a way to lower friction and cost around any parts of their operation that are relevant to location, such as supply chain, for which the provenance and logistical trail of materials are crucial, as well as currency geofencing, which prevents speculators outside of a given economic zone from manipulating the zone’s currency value.
The core to achieving Platin’s goal is no doubt blockchain technology and the unique benefits that it offers. “Blockchain enables immutable data and consensus algorithms, which are both crucial to our mission of disrupting a centralized geospatial marketplace. In addition to giving back users power over their geospatial data from siloed location service providers, Proof-of-Location can also allow for secure and private location witnessing that had not been previously possible,” comments Mason. Specifically, the team chose to build on EOSIO as “it has the scale and performance that a demanding Proof-of-Location like Platin would require. EOSIO also holds specific advantages in user authentication, governance transparency, ease of coding and scalability”, while “the ability to code in C++ has sped up Platin’s integration and deployment right from the outset,” Mason added.
Since the project’s inception, the EOSIO developer community has shown considerable enthusiasm towards the prospect of Platin’s support for EOS within its signal harvesting app and other platforms, and participants of Block.one’s EOS Global Hackathon in San Francisco had the chance to engage with Platin’s geospatial airdrops first hand. For an app with such groundbreaking potential to redefine trust through technology, Platin is positioning itself as one of the trailblazers at the forefront of the Web 3.0 revolution.
More information on the Platin app available on https://platin.io
Stay tuned to our EOSIO Spotlight series where we’ll highlight some of the truly exceptional projects being built on our platform. If you have a project you’d like to share with us, please email spotlight@block.one.
-Developer Relations team
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