When Cost-Efficient Technologies Meet Politics: A Case Study of Radical Wireless Network Implementation

Cost efficiency has been a dominant perspective in the traditional IT literature. However, in complex technology and business environment, the widely recognized cost efficient assumption of information technology has been increasingly challenged. Drawing from a case study of wireless network implementation situated in a politically sensitive workplace, this paper provided practice insights for IT managers in today’s networked economy. More specifically, stories experienced in the case study illustrated that despite well-calculated cost efficiency of wireless network infrastructure, the radical implementation process in the case organization encountered enormous challenges and opposition due to the fact that administrators failed to consider various stakeholders’ positions and interests. Eventually, the implementation objectives and outcome were considerably undermined. Implications from this empirical case research reemphasized the significance of understanding political forces situated in any business environment where different stakeholders hold conflicting interests. Lessons learned from the case story further encouraged IT managers and policy makers to better strategize emerging information technology in general and wireless networks in particular as the whole global society and business environment are increasingly facing an emerging wireless world

Research of Multi-Information Integration for the Aircraft Ground De-icing Monitoring System Based on GIS and GPRS

Aiming at solving the problem of information dispersed, hysteresis even lost in the process of aircraft ground concentrated de-icing which reduce the efficiency and safety of the aircraft ground de-icing. A multi-information integration system of the whole process of the aircraft ground concentrated de-icing is designed in this paper, which describes the architecture and the function of the information integration system, proposes the hardware structure and implementation of software of the database server and the monitoring terminal. The simulation results show that the system can collect and show the information of the whole process of aircraft ground de-icing properly and provide an efficient monitoring platform for aircraft ground de-icing

Control de campo de ayudas agrarias basado en telefonía móvil

Hoy día, la mayoría de los datos que se manejan llevan asociados una componente geográfica. Bajo este contexto asistimos a un acercamiento de tecnologías empleadas por usuarios expertos hacia usuarios genéricos. En este marco se plantea la integración de las nuevas tecnologías en el control de las ayudas agrarias. Actualmente, los procesos de control de ayudas agrarias se basan fundamentalmente en visitas de campo con objeto de certificar el uso del suelo. Esta metodología de control origina una movilización importante de personal y equipos, empleando simultáneamente dispositivos como cámara fotográfica, tablet-PC, GPS, etc. El objetivo de este proyecto ha sido el desarrollo de una aplicación para telefonía móvil aprovechando los distintos sensores que se encuentran integrados en él, utilizando terminales que añaden nuevas funcionalidades, asegurando la integridad de la información, mejorando su correcta interpretación así como estableciendo diferentes canales de difusión. El proyecto se ha desarrollado bajo Android, empleando librerías de código abierto y de ejecución independiente al fabricante del dispositivo telefónico. El resultado es un software que integra información de diferentes sensores, presentando el terminal móvil apto para los trabajos de control de campo, reduciendo el material a emplear y mejorando la integridad de la información.Today, most data we use is associated with a geographic component. In this context we are witnessing a convergence in technologies used by expert users to generic users. In this framework we look at the integration of new technologies in the control of agricultural aid. Currently, control processes agricultural subsidies are fundamentally based on field visits in order to certify the land use. This control methodology results in a significant mobilization of personnel and equipment, using devices like a camera, tablet PC, GPS, etc. The objective of this project has been to develop a mobile application taking advantage of the different sensors that are integrated into it, using terminals that add new functionality, ensuring data integrity, improving its correct interpretation as well as establishing different channels diffusion. The project has been developed under Android, using open source libraries independent to the device manufacturer. The result is software that integrates information from different sensors, introducing the mobile terminal suitable for the work of field control, reducing the material to be used and improved data integrity

Development of an open-source mobile application for emergency data collection

This Master degree project identified disasters and emergencies as a global humanitarian and technological challenge. Emergency management organizations' need for access to accurate and up-to-date information about the emergency situation, to help respond to, recover from and mitigate the effects of disasters and emergencies, presents a challenge to the field of Geomatics. Today the use of remote sensing technologies presents an increasing number of solutions. There are types of spatial data, however, e.g. submerged, non-visual or otherwise hidden features that still require emergency field personnel and volunteers to interpret and record. By utilizing the increasing ubiquity and computational power of modern smartphones, in order to reach a large number of potential users and volunteers, a mobile application for emergency field data collection was developed. It was developed as a component of a system that, in order to be as collaborative, adaptable and accessible as possible, also to resource-poor organizations, was, with a minor exception, completely open-source licensed. Field trials were held that, due to low participation, could not conclusively evaluate the application and its general applicability to emergency field data collection. They did, however, provide an adequate proof-of-concept and showed that it was possible to apply the application and the implemented system to a specific emergency field data collection task. The system has great collaborative potential, achieved through openness, mobility, standards compliance, multi-source capability and adaptability. Its administrators are given a high degree of control that lets them adapt the system to suit the current users and situation and its flexibility make it widely applicable, not only for emergency management. From literature, the field trials and the experience gained while developing and using the application, some ideas for improving the application and the system were discussed and some future research topics were suggested.Under och efter katastrofer och nödsituationer samlas många olika organisationer för att hjälpa de drabbade. Det kan vara t.ex. polis, brandkår, sjukvård, eller elbolag som måste reparera ledningsnät. Vid större katastrofer kan myndigheter och internationella hjälporganisationer också behöva komma till undsättning. För att dessa organisationer ska kunna hjälpa till på ett effektivt sätt måste de ha tillgång till uppdaterad och korrekt information om krisläget. En stor del av den här informationen är kopplad till en specifik plats; den är geografisk. Idag får organisationer som jobbar med krishantering mycket av sin geografiska information från satelliter och flygbilder, men en del typer av information kan inte ses med satellit. Dessa kan vara t.ex. ledningar som ligger begravda under markytan eller mänskliga skador och behov. Därför behövs också någon form av system som personal och volontärer i fält kan använda för att rapportera till krisledningscentraler på ett effektivt sätt. Många sådana system har historiskt sett varit dyra att skaffa eftersom de krävt avancerade datorprogram och dyr teknisk utrustning till personalen i fält. Eftersom de dessutom många gånger varit svåra att använda har det varit svårt för krishanterings-organisationer att få ihop tillräckligt många personer att hjälpa till. Det här projektet syftade till att utveckla en mobil-app, d.v.s. ett program till moderna mobiltelefoner (s.k. smartphones). Målet med appen var att alla som äger en smartphone av rätt typ skulle kunna bidra till att samla viktig geografisk information till krisledningscentralen. Genom att låta appen vara en del av ett system som är helt gratis att använda och med öppen källkod, kan även organisationer med små resurser och lite pengar använda den. Tack vare att så många redan äger smartphones som de dessutom redan är vana vid att använda kan det bli lättare att få fler att kunna medverka. Utvecklingen av appen lyckades och hela systemet är gratis att använda och utgivet – nästan – helt med öppen källkod. Appen testades, men av för få deltagare för att kunna dra några definitiva slutsatser om systemet är lämpligt att använda för krishantering. Dock visade appen och systemet god potential under testerna och att det var möjligt att använda appen för att samla information i en katastrofsituation

Development of a mobile solution for spatial data collection using open source technologies

Information technologies (ITs), and sports resources and services aid the potential to transform governmental organizations, and play an important role in contributing to sustainable communities development, respectively. Spatial data is a crucial source to support sports planning and management. Low-cost mobile geospatial tools bring productive and accurate data collection, and their use combining a handy and customized graphical user interface (GUI) (forms, mapping, media support) is still in an early stage. Recognizing the benefits — efficiency, effectiveness, proximity to citizens — that Mozambican Minister of Youth and Sports (MJD) can achieve with information resulted from the employment of a low-cost data collection platform, this project presents the development of a mobile mapping application (app) — m-SportGIS — under Open Source (OS) technologies and a customized evolutionary software methodology. The app development embraced the combination of mobile web technologies and Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) (e.g. Sencha Touch (ST), Apache Cordova, OpenLayers) to deploy a native-to-the-device (Android operating system) product, taking advantage of device’s capabilities (e.g. File system, Geolocation, Camera). In addition to an integrated Web Map Service (WMS), was created a local and customized Tile Map Service (TMS) to serve up cached data, regarding the IT infrastructures limitations in several Mozambican regions. m-SportGIS is currently being exploited by Mozambican Government staff to inventory all kind of sports facilities, which resulted and stored data feeds a WebGIS platform to manage Mozambican sports resources

Integration solution for visualizing mass communications networks on geographic information system

Paikkatiedon ja paikkatietojärjestelmien käyttö on laajentunut ammattilaiskäytöstä osaksi joka paikan tietotekniikkaa. Paikkatiedon yleistymistä ovat vauhdittaneet Open Geospatial Consortiumin määrittelemät avoimet standardit paikkatiedon tallentamisessa ja jakamisessa. Toisaalta internet-sovelluksista on tullut yhä enemmän hajautettuja järjestelmiä, jotka hyödyntävät monimuotoisia tietolähteitä ja palveluita. Internet-sovellusten hajautettavuutta on edistänyt World Wide Web Consortium erilaisilla XML- ja Web Service -standardeillaan. Tässä työssä tehdään tietoliikenneyritys Digita Oy:lle paikkatietojärjestelmän vaatimusmäärittely. Sen pohjalta suunnitellaan sitä tukeva ohjelmistoarkkitehtuuri ja toteutetaan taustajärjestelmäratkaisu, joka hyödyntää tietolähteinä yrityksen olemassa olevia ohjelmointirajapintoja, tietojärjestelmiä ja aineistoja mahdollisimman tehokkaasti. Työn tuloksena määriteltiin televisio- ja radiopalveluiden kuluttajille sovellus, joka visualisoi palveluiden saatavuuden karttaesityksenä sekä tiedottaa häiriö- ja huoltotilanteesta alueellisesti ja reaaliaikaisesti. Toteutettu taustajärjestelmäratkaisu rakennettiin palvelukeskeisen arkkitehtuurimallin mukaisesti. Arkkitehtuurin ytimenä toimii palveluväyläsovellus, joka hyödyntää tässä työssä toteutettuja rajapintapalveluita sekä reitittää ja muuntaa tietoa kohdejärjestelmään soveltuvaksi. Ratkaisu vastasi erinomaisesti kaikkiin sille asetettuihin vaatimuksiin. Taustajärjestelmän julkiset rajapinnat suunniteltiin uudelleenkäytettäviksi myös mahdollisissa tulevissa sovelluksissa, mutta taustajärjestelmäratkaisun suorituskyvyn ja tiedon reaaliaikaisuuden kanssa voi tulla eteen haasteita. REST-arkkitehtuurin hyödyntäminen ja koordinaattimuunnosten määrän pienentäminen voisivat vaikuttaa suorituskykyhaasteisiin edullisesti.The use of geospatial data and geographic information systems has been extended from professional use to the part of ubiquitous computing. Open Geospatial Consortium has defined several open standards for storing and sharing geospatial data, which has promoted the development and utilization of geographic data and systems. At the same time, internet applications are becoming distributed systems that exploit diverse data sources and services. Different XML and Web Service standards defined by World Wide Web Consortium have advanced the development of distributed systems. In this master's thesis a requirement specification is performed for a geographic information system of telecommunication company Digita Oy. Based on requirement specification, supporting software architecture is designed and backend system is implemented. This system utilizes Digita's existing application programming interfaces, information systems and data as a data source. The result of this study was the requirement specification for an application that is directed to consumers of television and radio services. The application visualizes availability of the services as well as outages and maintenances in the network geographically in real time. Designed architecture of the backend system was based on the model of service-oriented architecture. A core of the architecture is service bus application, which uses the services implemented in this study, route messages and transform data to a schema of a target system. The solution fulfilled the requirements that were set very well. Interface of the backend system was planned for reusing for future applications, but there might be some challenges in performance and real time data. REST architecture and minimizing the number of coordinate transforms could reduce the probability of performance issues

Digital fault mapping and spatial attribute analysis of basement-influenced oblique extension in Passive margin settings

Oblique extension and passive margin segmentation may be attributed to the influence of basement structures. Pre-existing fabrics exert a strong control on the overall rift geometry in extensional settings, and can lead to the development of complex fault patterns, obliquely extending segments, deformation partitioning and transfer zones. In offshore settings, the nature of basement structure cannot easily be determined from seismic data, and onshore studies are increasingly used to assess basement controls. A digital mapping methodology GAVA (Geospatial Acquisition Visualisation and Analysis) has been developed to integrate regional- to outcrop-scale data. Digital field mapping methods using DGPS, Laser-Rangefinder and field-GIS are used to map faults to a dm- to mscale accuracy by collecting spatial co-ordinates on a handheld computer whilst traversing along or across the exposed fault systems. Benefits of digital mapping include: more rapid data collection and analysis; all data geospatially located and stored in a digital database; GIS-based analysis and visualisation techniques; digital data format enables direct comparison with fault arrays interpreted from seismic data. The GAVA workflow has been used to investigate three case studies on the North Atlantic Passive Margin: 1) NW Scotland; 2) Lofoten, NW Norway; and 3) Davis Strait, West Greenland. Each case study combines regional onshore and offshore mapping, using remote sensing and seismic interpretation, with detailed outcrop mapping of onshore fault exposures. Fault attributes (e.g. fault orientation, kinematics, fault linkage, fault-rock, overprinting relationships) observed at individual localities were collected in a GIS database. Kinematic fault analysis was carried out using strain inversion techniques at various scales. Spatial analysis was carried out using ArcGIS to identify relationships between various structures, while 3-D models were constructed in order to visualise these relationships over several orders of magnitude. Results show that the complexity of rifted margins may be linked to changes in the obliquity of pre-existing structures relative to the regional extension vector. However, direct reactivation of structures need not always occur. The influence of pre-existing structures may also lead to localized variations in stress/strain orientations, which if analyzed in isolation can indicate extension non-parallel to regional stresses. Therefore, spatial analysis and studies across a range of scales is essential when analyzing such zones. Digital (GIS) mapping methods are an ideal may to carry out such studies, although further development of analysis and visualisation tools for geosciences is required in the field of GIS

Modelling the spatial-temporal movement of tourists

Tourism is one of the most rapidly developing industries in the world. The study of spatio-temporal movement models of tourists are undertaken in variety of disciplines such as tourism, geography, mathematics, economics and artificial intelligence. Knowledge from these different fields has been difficult to integrate because tourist movement research has been conducted at different spatial and temporal scales. This thesis establishes a methodology for modelling the spatial-temporal movement of tourists and defines the spatial-temporal movement of tourists at both the macro and micro level. At the macro level, the sequence of tourist movements is modelled and the trend for tourist movements is predicted based on Markov Chain theory (MC). Log-linear models are then adopted to test the significance of the movement patterns of tourists. Tourism market segmentation based on the significant movement patterns of tourists is implemented using the EM (Expectation-Maximisation) algorithm. At the micro level, this thesis investigates the wayfinding decision-making processes of tourists. Four wayfinding models are developed and the relationships between the roles of landmarks and wayfinding decision-making are also discussed for each type of the wayfinding processes. The transition of a tourist movement between the macro and micro levels was examined based on the spatio-temporal zooming theory. A case study of Phillip Island, Victoria, Australia is undertaken to implement and evaluate the tourist movement models established in this thesis. Two surveys were conducted on Phillip Island to collect the macro and micro level movement data of tourists. As results show particular groups of tourists travelling with the same movement patterns have unique characteristics such as age and travel behaviours such as mode of transport. Effective tour packages can be designed based on significant movement patterns and the corresponding target markets. Tourists with various age groups, residency, gender and different levels of familiarity with physical environment have different wayfinding behaviours. The results of this study have been applied to tourism management on Phillip Island and the novel methods developed in this thesis have proved to be useful in improving park facilities and services provided to tourists, in designing tour packages for tourism market promotion and in understanding tourist wayfinding behaviours

Wireless technology applied to GIS

At present, there is a growing interest in wireless applications, due to the fact that the technology begins to support them at reasonable costs. In this paper, we present the technology currently available for use in wireless environments, focusing on Geographic Information Systems. As an example, we present a newly developed platform for the commercialization of advanced geographical information services for use in portable devices. This platform uses available mobile telephone networks and wireless local area networks, but it is completely scalable to new technologies such as third generation mobile networks. Users access the service using a vector map player that runs on a Personal Digital Assistant with wireless access facilities and a Global Positioning System receiver. Before accessing the information, the player will request authorization from the server and download the requested map from it, if necessary. The platform also includes a system for improving Global Positioning System localization with the Real Time Differential Global Positioning System, which uses short GSM messages as the transmission medium.Peer Reviewe

Wireless technology applied to GIS

At present, there is a growing interest in wireless applications, due to the fact that the technology begins to support them at reasonable costs. In this paper, we present the technology currently available for use in wireless environments, focusing on Geographic Information Systems. As an example, we present a newly developed platform for the commercialization of advanced geographical information services for use in portable devices. This platform uses available mobile telephone networks and wireless local area networks, but it is completely scalable to new technologies such as third generation mobile networks. Users access the service using a vector map player that runs on a Personal Digital Assistant with wireless access facilities and a Global Positioning System receiver. Before accessing the information, the player will request authorization from the server and download the requested map from it, if necessary. The platform also includes a system for improving Global Positioning System localization with the Real Time Differential Global Positioning System, which uses short GSM messages as the transmission medium.Peer Reviewe