Concept for a Web Map Implementation with Faster Query Response

Vector data and in particular road networks are being used in many application domains such as in mobile computing. These systems would prefer to receive the query results very quickly. Lots of research is going on to make the query response faster. One technique is to compress vector data so that they can be transferred to the client quickly. If we look different compression technique that are used to make the response faster, we will see that some of them do not make the response fast enough and some of them make response fast but very complex to implement. We report the concept for the implementation of a web map with a simple compression technique to send query response to the client, and found it making response fast. We have used some open source/free components to make the development quick and easy. This paper may work as a guide line for quick implementation of a web map. Keywords: Web Map, PostGIS, Geoserver, GeoWebCache, Compression

Web–based Participatory GIS with data collection on the field – A prototype architecture

The rise of Web 2.0 and the current, unprecedented diffusion of mobile devices have laid new foundations for the development of PGIS (Participatory GIS). This study evaluates the possibility of exploiting FOSS (Free and Open Source Software) tools to build up a PGIS prototype providing Web publication of user field-collected data. Besides increasing public awareness and collaboration, user-generated content should also enlarge the knowledge of specific phenomena up to the local level. A prototype architecture was designed and tested in relation to a simple, planning-related case study, i.e., the report of road pavement damages. Open Data Kit suite was used to gather georeferenced multimedia data using mobile device sensors (e.g., the GPS) and to store them into a PostgreSQL database with PostGIS spatial extension. Data was then Web-published using GeoServer. Web access was finally enabled from both traditional desktop-computers and mobile platforms through ad hoc OpenLayers and Leaflet clientside solutions. The architecture provided support for FOSS applicability within the typical PGIS-related tasks, from field survey to data storage, management and dissemination on the Internet. This bottom-up communication paradigm, which exploits real-time, freely available user contributions, can become a potentially precious tool for making decision-processes more democratic, faster and ultimately better

For Video Streaming/Delivery: Is HTML5 the Real Fix?

The general movement towards streaming or playing videos on the web has grown exponentially in the last decade. The combination of new streaming technologies and faster Internet connections continue to provide enhanced and robust user experience for video content. For many organizations, adding videos on their websites has transitioned from a “cool” feature to a mission critical service. Some of the benefits in putting videos online include: to engage and convert visitors, to raise awareness or drive interest, to share inspirational stories or recent unique events, etc. Along with the growth in the use and need for video content on the web; delivering videos online also remains a messy activity for developers and web teams. Examples of existing challenges include creating more accessible videos with captions and delivering content (using adaptive streaming) for the diverse range of mobile and tablet devices. In this article, we report on the decision-making and early results in using the Kaltura video platform in two popular library platforms: CONTENTdm and DSpace

Accessing the mobile web: myth or reality?

Emerging technologies for learning report - Article exploring open web standard

Smart hospital emergency system via mobile-based requesting services

In recent years, the UK’s emergency call and response has shown elements of great strain as of today. The strain on emergency call systems estimated by a 9 million calls (including both landline and mobile) made in 2014 alone. Coupled with an increasing population and cuts in government funding, this has resulted in lower percentages of emergency response vehicles at hand and longer response times. In this paper, we highlight the main challenges of emergency services and overview of previous solutions. In addition, we propose a new system call Smart Hospital Emergency System (SHES). The main aim of SHES is to save lives through improving communications between patient and emergency services. Utilising the latest of technologies and algorithms within SHES is aiming to increase emergency communication throughput, while reducing emergency call systems issues and making the process of emergency response more efficient. Utilising health data held within a personal smartphone, and internal tracked data (GPU, Accelerometer, Gyroscope etc.), SHES aims to process the mentioned data efficiently, and securely, through automatic communications with emergency services, ultimately reducing communication bottlenecks. Live video-streaming through real-time video communication protocols is also a focus of SHES to improve initial communications between emergency services and patients. A prototype of this system has been developed. The system has been evaluated by a preliminary usability, reliability, and communication performance study

Fast and flexible selection with a single switch

Selection methods that require only a single-switch input, such as a button click or blink, are potentially useful for individuals with motor impairments, mobile technology users, and individuals wishing to transmit information securely. We present a single-switch selection method, "Nomon," that is general and efficient. Existing single-switch selection methods require selectable options to be arranged in ways that limit potential applications. By contrast, traditional operating systems, web browsers, and free-form applications (such as drawing) place options at arbitrary points on the screen. Nomon, however, has the flexibility to select any point on a screen. Nomon adapts automatically to an individual's clicking ability; it allows a person who clicks precisely to make a selection quickly and allows a person who clicks imprecisely more time to make a selection without error. Nomon reaps gains in information rate by allowing the specification of beliefs (priors) about option selection probabilities and by avoiding tree-based selection schemes in favor of direct (posterior) inference. We have developed both a Nomon-based writing application and a drawing application. To evaluate Nomon's performance, we compared the writing application with a popular existing method for single-switch writing (row-column scanning). Novice users wrote 35% faster with the Nomon interface than with the scanning interface. An experienced user (author TB, with > 10 hours practice) wrote at speeds of 9.3 words per minute with Nomon, using 1.2 clicks per character and making no errors in the final text.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figures, 1 table, presented at NIPS 2009 Mini-symposi

TechNews digests: Jan - Nov 2008

TechNews is a technology, news and analysis service aimed at anyone in the education sector keen to stay informed about technology developments, trends and issues. TechNews focuses on emerging technologies and other technology news. TechNews service : digests september 2004 till May 2010 Analysis pieces and News combined publish every 2 to 3 month

Diagnostic Color Strip Reader for World Health Partners Clinics

Despite the advancement of medical technology, many people in developing countries like India and Kenya still suffer from treatable diseases. In many of the health clinics in these areas, color strips are used for checkups and diagnosis of diseases. However, a big problem with these color strips is that the diagnosis of color strips take a long time because they have to be manually checked. Currently, World Health Partners (WHP) works with doctors and hospitals in India and Kenya to provide more accessible healthcare through telehealth networks to get consultations from rural clinics to specialists at hospitals. We are working with WHP to streamline the process of color strip diagnosis, by creating an application that goes through the process of reading a color strip in a single step. Our application analyzes an image of a color strip and returns the concentration of the different factors being tested on the color strip. By doing so, we provide a precise analysis of color strips, instead of having to wait for a specialist