Spatial ability, urban wayfinding and location-based services:a review and first results

Location-Based Services (LBS) are a new industry at the core of which are GISand spatial databases. With increasing mobility of individuals, the anticipatedavailability of broadband communications for mobile devices and growingvolumes of location specific information available in databases there willinevitably be an increase in demand for services providing location relatedinformation to people on the move. New Information and CommunicationTechnologies (NICTs) are providing enhanced possibilities for navigating ?smartcities?. Urban environments, meanwhile, have increasing spatial complexity.Navigating urban environments is becoming an important issue. The time is ripefor a re-appraisal of urban wayfinding. This paper critically reviews the currentLBS applications and raises a series of questions with regard to LBS for urbanwayfinding. Research is being carried out to measure individuals? spatialability/awareness and their degree of preference for using LBS in wayfinding. Themethodology includes both the use of questionnaires and a virtual reality CAVE.Presented here are the results of the questionnaire survey which indicate therelationships between individuals? spatial ability, use of NICTs and modepreference for receiving wayfinding cues. Also discussed are our future researchdirections on LBS, particular on issues of urban wayfinding using NICTs

Technology Integration around the Geographic Information: A State of the Art

One of the elements that have popularized and facilitated the use of geographical information on a variety of computational applications has been the use of Web maps; this has opened new research challenges on different subjects, from locating places and people, the study of social behavior or the analyzing of the hidden structures of the terms used in a natural language query used for locating a place. However, the use of geographic information under technological features is not new, instead it has been part of a development and technological integration process. This paper presents a state of the art review about the application of geographic information under different approaches: its use on location based services, the collaborative user participation on it, its contextual-awareness, its use in the Semantic Web and the challenges of its use in natural languge queries. Finally, a prototype that integrates most of these areas is presented

Mind your step! : How profiling location reveals your identity - and how you prepare for it

Location-based services (LBS) are services that position your mobile phone to provide some context-based service for you. Some of these services – called ‘location tracking’ applications - need frequent updates of the current position to decide whether a service should be initiated. Thus, internet-based systems will continuously collect and process the location in relationship to a personal context of an identified customer. This paper will present the concept of location as part of a person’s identity. I will conceptualize location in information systems and relate it to concepts like privacy, geographical information systems and surveillance. The talk will present how the knowledge of a person's private life and identity can be enhanced with data mining technologies on location profiles and movement patterns. Finally, some first concepts about protecting location information

The Possibility of Application Services Based on Users Location

Usluge temeljene na lokaciji daju mogućnost dvosmjerne komunikacije i interakcije. LBS usluge su informacijske usluge dostupne mobilnim uređajima putem mobilne mreže i koriste mogućnosti korištenja lokacije mobilnog uređaja. Postoji širok raspon različitih usluga temeljenih na lokaciji korisnika. Stalan rast broja različitih aplikacija i mogućnosti dovodi do širokog područja primjene LBS usluga. Određivanje lokacije je srce svake lokacijsko bazirane usluge te se LBS kvaliteta usluge prvenstveno bavi performansama određivanja lokacije uključujući pogreške pri određivanju lokacije, metodama određivanja lokacije i vremenu odgovora jednog lokacijskog senzora ili kombinacije više njih. Kvaliteta usluge identificirana je kao jedan o glavnih izazova u razvoju LBS-a. Pozicioniranje i infrastruktura pozicioniranja može se klasificirati s obzirom na različite kriterije: integrirane i samostalne infrastrukture pozicioniranja, pozicioniranja baziranog na terminalu i mreži kao i satelitske, ćelijske i unutarnje infrastrukture. LBS je heterogena tehnologija i sadrži niz pod arhitektura opća podjela Klijent , LBS poslužiteljem, Mreža, Web aplikacije,GIS i prostorne baze podataka, kartografija.Location-based services provide two-way communication and interaction. LBS services are information services available to mobile devices via the mobile network and use the possibilities of location of a mobile device. There is a wide range of different services based on the user's location. The steady increase in the number of different applications and opportunities leads to a wide area of application of LBS services. Determining the location is the heart of any location-based services and LBS quality of services is principally engaged in the performance of location measurement, including errors in determining the location, methods of determining the location and the response time one of location sensors or a combination of them. Te quality of service has been identified as one of the major challenges in the development of LBS. Positioning and positioning infrastructure can be classified based on different criteria: integrated and stand-alone infrastructure positioning, positioning based on the terminal and the network as well as satellite, cellular and internal infrastructure. LBS is a heterogeneous technology and contains a number of general architecture of the client division, LBS server, network, Web applications, GIS and spatial databases, cartography

Mass-Market Receiver for Static Positioning: Tests and Statistical Analyses

Nowadays, there are several low cost GPS receivers able to provide both pseudorange and carrier phase measurements in the L1band, that allow to have good realtime performances in outdoor condition. The present paper describes a set of dedicated tests in order to evaluate the positioning accuracy in static conditions. The quality of the pseudorange and the carrier phase measurements let hope for interesting results. The use of such kind of receiver could be extended to a large number of professional applications, like engineering fields: survey, georeferencing, monitoring, cadastral mapping and cadastral road. In this work, the receivers performance is verified considering a single frequency solution trying to fix the phase ambiguity, when possible. Different solutions are defined: code, float and fix solutions. In order to solve the phase ambiguities different methods are considered. Each test performed is statistically analyzed, highlighting the effects of different factors on precision and accurac

Data modelling for emergency response

Emergency response is one of the most demanding phases in disaster management. The fire brigade, paramedics, police and municipality are the organisations involved in the first response to the incident. They coordinate their work based on welldefined policies and procedures, but they also need the most complete and up-todate information about the incident, which would allow a reliable decision-making.\ud There is a variety of systems answering the needs of different emergency responders, but they have many drawbacks: the systems are developed for a specific sector; it is difficult to exchange information between systems; the systems offer too much or little information, etc. Several systems have been developed to share information during emergencies but usually they maintain the nformation that is coming from field operations in an unstructured way.\ud This report presents a data model for organisation of dynamic data (operational and situational data) for emergency response. The model is developed within the RGI-239 project ‘Geographical Data Infrastructure for Disaster Management’ (GDI4DM)

Preliminary Assessment of Nitrous Oxide Offsets in a Cap and Trade Program

Nitrous oxide is a powerful greenhouse gas that is emitted from cropland treated with nitrogen fertilizer. Reducing such emissions through nutrient management might be able to produce offsets for sale in a cap and trade program aimed at reducing greenhouse gases. We use the Nitrate Leaching and Economic Analysis Program (NLEAP) model and data from the Agricultural and Resource Management Survey to examine what changes in rate, timing, or method of application a farmer would take to produce offsets. We find that reducing the application rate is the most favored approach for producing offsets. We also find that some management choices may increase nitrate losses to water.nitrous oxide, nutrient management, cap and trade, NLEAP, greenhouse gas, Environmental Economics and Policy,

Smart Geographic object: Toward a new understanding of GIS Technology in Ubiquitous Computing

One of the fundamental aspects of ubiquitous computing is the instrumentation of the real world by smart devices. This instrumentation constitutes an opportunity to rethink the interactions between human beings and their environment on the one hand, and between the components of this environment on the other. In this paper we discuss what this understanding of ubiquitous computing can bring to geographic science and particularly to GIS technology. Our main idea is the instrumentation of the geographic environment through the instrumentation of geographic objects composing it. And then investigate how this instrumentation can meet the current limitations of GIS technology, and offers a new stage of rapprochement between the earth and its abstraction. As result, the current research work proposes a new concept we named Smart Geographic Object SGO. The latter is a convergence point between the smart objects and geographic objects, two concepts appertaining respectively to

Multimodal Content Delivery for Geo-services

This thesis describes a body of work carried out over several research projects in the area of multimodal interaction for location-based services. Research in this area has progressed from using simulated mobile environments to demonstrate the visual modality, to the ubiquitous delivery of rich media using multimodal interfaces (geo- services). To effectively deliver these services, research focused on innovative solutions to real-world problems in a number of disciplines including geo-location, mobile spatial interaction, location-based services, rich media interfaces and auditory user interfaces. My original contributions to knowledge are made in the areas of multimodal interaction underpinned by advances in geo-location technology and supported by the proliferation of mobile device technology into modern life. Accurate positioning is a known problem for location-based services, contributions in the area of mobile positioning demonstrate a hybrid positioning technology for mobile devices that uses terrestrial beacons to trilaterate position. Information overload is an active concern for location-based applications that struggle to manage large amounts of data, contributions in the area of egocentric visibility that filter data based on field-of-view demonstrate novel forms of multimodal input. One of the more pertinent characteristics of these applications is the delivery or output modality employed (auditory, visual or tactile). Further contributions in the area of multimodal content delivery are made, where multiple modalities are used to deliver information using graphical user interfaces, tactile interfaces and more notably auditory user interfaces. It is demonstrated how a combination of these interfaces can be used to synergistically deliver context sensitive rich media to users - in a responsive way - based on usage scenarios that consider the affordance of the device, the geographical position and bearing of the device and also the location of the device

Wireless Location Based Services (Wi-LBS)

The needs and demands on location information have arisen rapidly. With the advancement of mobile computing technologies, many researches and studies have been conducted in providing reliable location information solution. Location based information has become an important resource for mobile users especially in giving direction or locating places. Wireless Location Based Services (Wi-LBS) highlight this scenario by explaining the application and usage of the LBS in wireless environment. Wi-LBS is introduced with respect to providing wireless method in locating places within UTP campus instead of referring to static map. The objective of this research is to integrate GIS with MMS technology as a system called Wireless Location Based Services. It is mainly focused on applying GIS elements in providing location information by utilizing the advancement of today's wireless handheld devices. Users will request for location by sending short messages using their mobile phones to the WiLBS system and the system will reply back sending the location information containing pictures and direction. Rapid Application Development (RAD) is used as the methodology in designing the system of Wi-LBS. This research also details the study on Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) that covers the sending of picture messages from Wi-LBS to mobile phones and system's function in responding to the users' requests. Various references and studies have been done regarding the successful LBS applications implemented in foreign country that leads to the interest of doing the research on LBS implementation in this country. The result from the research will be the proposed framework for Wi-LBS, the discussion on the GIS and MMS as well as the system of Wi-LBS. This study proved that Wireless Location Based Services has great potential to be commercially implemented with the growth of wireless application nowadays as today's community is eager of getting more services from wireless system