Engineering telecommunication services with SDL

If formal techniques are to be more widely accepted then they should evolve as current software engineering approaches evolve. Current techniques in the development of distributed systems use interface definition languages (IDLs) as a basis for the underlying communication and also as an abstraction tool. Object-oriented technologies [6] and the idea of engineering software through frameworks [5] are also widely accepted approaches in developing software. In this paper we show how the formal specification language SDL and associated tool support have been applied in the TOSCA1 project to engineer telecommunication services using these current techniques

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

E-commerce and territorial development in the Objective-1 spanish regions

The information and communication technologies constitute one of the main forces of the globalization. In this framework, the e-commerce takes advantage of Internet to improve the competitiveness of the companies and territories. In the nowadays scenario, the e-commerce opens development posibilities for the regions fewer developed, creating a virtual space that saves the geographical barriers. However, the use of its advantages requires infrastructures and equipment, organizational capacity and high formation in new technologies. In spite of the deficit that the objetive 1 spanish regions show in these fields to develop the their own Information Society, the attitude and the efforts of the public and private agents in improving their position in the national and international context, they open optimistic expectations on the future use of the advantages that the e-commerce offers for the growth and the improvement of the regional competitiveness in Spain. Nevertheless, one cannot hope the e-commerce is a decisive element to eliminate the territorial inequalities, not even the technologies of the information in its group, but rather it can be that they originate a restructuring of the spanish and european territorial pattern, where some regions will be able to improve thanks to the extension and deeping of the digital economy and others will worsen its position in the territorial system. In any event, the developed regions leave of a better position. All the analysts coincide in pointing out that the e-commerce is in an incipient phase, for what es expected that its growth in next years is very important. In this sense, this communication seeks to analyze the use of the possibilities that the e-commerce offers as tool of improvement of the competitiveness in the objetive 1 spanish regions in the framework of the regional development. To get this objetive, the theoretical linkings are revised among the new information and communication technologies, that allow the use of Internet like a trade channel, and the territorial development, showing the different focuses with those that are come approaching the influences of the Information Society on the regional competitiveness. Also, the current situation and perspectives of the objetive one spanish regions are rewied to face the challenges that outline the technological advances in this field in three environments: infrastructures and equipment; organization, support institutions and administration initiatives; and innovation, knowledge and formation.