In mobile distributed environments applications often need to dynamically obtain information that is relevant to their current location. The current design of the Internet does not provide any conceptual models for addressing this issue. As a result, developing a system that requires this functionality becomes a challenging and costly task, leading to individual solutions that only address the requirements of specific application scenarios. In this paper we propose a more generic approach, based on a scalable and
exible concept of location-based services, and an architectural framework to support its application in the Internet environment.
We describe a case study in which this architectural framework is used for developing a location-sensitive tourist guide. The realisation of this case study demonstrates the applicability of the framework, as well as the overall concept of location-based services, and highlights some of the issues involved.To the GUIDE team, and especially to Keith Mitchell and Matthias Franz, for their collaboration in the preparation of this case study. To Adrian Friday for his comments on a draft version of this paper. To the anonymous reviewers for their attentive reading and valuable comments. This work was carried out as part of the PRAXIS funded AROUND project (PRAXIS/P/EEI/14267/1998) and supported by grant PRAXIS XXI/BD/13853/97
