Introduction

Dr. Miguel A. Labrador

Department of Computer Science & Engineering
labrador@csee.usf.edu
http://www.csee.usf.edu/~labrador

Outline

Location Based Information Systems (LBIS)

LBIS challenges
Location-Based Services (LBS) applications
Location provider architectures
Software architecture
A complete LBS example

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Location Based Information Systems

Systems that integrate advances in mobile phones, software
development platforms, databases, positioning technology,
Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and communications
All combined make possible the creation of Location-Based
Information Systems (LBIS) and Location-Based Services (LBS)
Promise to change the way we live

3.25 billion mobile phone users in 2007

Half the worlds population

LBS subscribers using GPS-enabled cell phones expected to

grow from 12 M in 2006 to 315 M in 2011
20 M from 500 K in North America

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LBIS Challenges
Many players and technologies involved, and many issues
unsolved
Databases, GIS systems, positioning, applications

Erroneous and variable information

Accuracy of GPS fixes depend on positioning system, user location,
weather conditions, interferences, etc.

Cellular communication networks

Wireless transmission problems, such as fading, interferences,
disconnections, low bandwidth, etc.

Cell phones
Very resource-constrained device in terms of processing power,
storage, and energy capabilities

Operating systems and interoperability

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Location-Based Services (LBS)

An application that provides users with information based on the
geographical position of the mobile device
Main difference from other applications/systems
Availability of the users position in real-time
This single difference makes a BIG difference

Initial LBS systems were subscription-based

Traffic congestion notifications based on roads selected from a Web
site
Received congestion updates about I-75 when on travel in NYC!

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Types of LBS Applications

LBS can be either Reactive (pull) or Proactive (push)
A Reactive LBS application is triggered by the user who, based
on his current location, queries the system in search of
information
Many examples

Finding restaurants or places of interest

Obtaining directions
Locating people
Obtaining weather information
Sending emergency notifications to police, insurance companies,
roadside assistance companies, etc.

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Types of LBS Applications

In Proactive LBS applications, on the other hand, queries or
actions are automatically generated by the LBIS once a
predefined set of conditions are met
System needs to continuously know where you are and
evaluate the predefined conditions
Many examples as well

Geofencing, e.g., children outside predefined boundary

Fleet management
Real-time traffic congestion notifications
Location-based advertisement
Real-time friend finding
Proximity-based actuation
Travel assistant device for riding public transportation, tourism,
museum guided visits, etc

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Location
In LBIS and LBS applications everything is about LOCATION
Important to know about different players and techniques used
in the provision of location information
A location provider may or may not be the same entity providing
the location-based service to the user
According to who provides the location information, the system
can be categorized as network-based, mobile-based, and
location provider-based

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Network-Based Location Provider

Usually the same cellular network carrier
Carrier locates the user and stores his location in a database
within its network
LBS provider needs to obtain permission and/or pay for
obtaining user location information
LBS application needs mechanisms to query the DB
Preferred way of cellular carriers
Maintain ownership and control of the location information
Additional revenues

Have not accelerated the development of LBS

Cellular networks need to install costly positioning technologies
Carriers may limit the number and frequency of queries
Limiting the developing of some applications, mostly real-time ones

Applications need to be aware of which carrier the user belongs to

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Network-Based Location Provider

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Mobile-Based Location Provider

Mobile device has the capability of obtaining the location
GPS, cell network, both

Location is sent to the LBS service provider and stored in its

database for future reference or processing
Server application may or may not send information back to user
Depends on application and predefined parameters

Clients are not limited to cellular phones

Any GPS-enabled device with communication capability

Accelerated rapid development of LBS application

Neither financial nor technical barriers

Main disadvantage of this method is that it has the potential to

flood the network with location updates
Different LBS providers may or may not share the locations
A user may be sending same location to more than one LBS provider

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Mobile-Based Location Provider

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Location Provider-Based
Meant to solve the flooding problem of mobile-based method
Independent entity collects locations using different methods
and make them available to LBS providers
Only business is to provide location information
Scalable architecture; perhaps the best architecture for wide
deployment of LBS
Provisions needed to guarantee fair price and include competition

There are a few companies that provide location information

Skyhook, Where, Veriplace, Loc-Aid Technologies, others
In this class, we will use the mobile-based method
GPS-enabled cell phones and network-based technologies

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Location Provider-Based

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A Complete LBIS Tracking Example

General real-time tracking application with visualization
Tracking devices, people, etc.

Uses the mobile-based location provider architecture

Proactive LBS application consisting of the following
components:

Positioning system
Client device
Transport network
Main control station
Servers

Standard and free software and standard protocols as much as

possible

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Hardware
Positioning system
GPS and Assisted GPS (A-GPS)

Client device
GPS-enabled cell phone or any device with GPS or embedded
positioning system

Transport network
Cellular network with data plan (GPRS or similar) or network
connectivity using Wi-Fi or any other IP-based networking
technology

Main control station

PC connected to the system to control service and visualize data,
e.g., set up geofence and Google maps

Servers
Database, GIS for geocoding and reverse geocoding, application
server for processing

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Software
Java platform
Java SE for clients and Java ME for resource-constrained devices

Suns Glassfish as the application server

Google s Web Toolkit for visualization
Google Maps and Google Earth

Postgres, and object-oriented relational database

PostGIS, Postgress add on to support geographic objects
Standard communication protocols
HTTP, TCP, UDP

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A Complete Tracking System Example

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Software Architecture
Software architecture is needed in order to

Have an organized system

Know who does what in the system
Understand data flow
Know about relationships between components
Know protocols and interfaces used

Software architecture for the client and for the server

An example follows
Used in proactive, mobile-based location provider applications
related to transportation

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Software Architecture - Client

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Software Architecture - Server

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A Brief Look into the Future

LBS, Human-Centric Sensing, Participatory Sensing

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Participatory Sensing

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