Web Based Device Independent Mobile Map Applications.

The m-Chartis System

J. Garofalakis T. Michail A. Plessas

Computer Engineering & Informatics Dept.

University of Patras

Computer Technology Institute

Background (1)

Mobile devices: mobile phones, smartphones, PDAs, Tablet PCs

Recent years: important progress in mobile telecommunications and devices

Users’ requirements: info anytime, anywhere Result → development of LBS and map

applications

Background (2)

Most applications are not device independent: Client side approach (downloading the

application) Special software needs to be installed Java enabled or i-mode phones PDA or mobile, but not both

Constraints of mobile devices

Screen size and resolution Number of colors, compared to desktop

monitors Limited processing power and storage space Low data transfer rates and high cost Not functional interaction with the user Each limitation is not met in the same extent

in all devices

Device independence – our approach

Our approach takes into consideration handhelds’ constraints and capabilities: Web based approach (simple web pages) XHTML Mobile Profile pages No dependence on the connection service (WAP

2.0, i-mode etc) Pages designed to have the smallest possible

size Possibility to change the size and the zoom level

of maps

Device independence – testing the application

In order to confirm that the application is running properly, it was tested with the following devices: Samsung X460 and D500 (simple phone) Qtek 8020 (smartphone) HP iPAQ hw6510 (PDA)

The m-CHARTIS system - overview

Aim: management of information for cities that would be accessible through maps in mobile devices

Two parts: administrator tool and mobile application

Administrator tool: managing information Mobile application: accessing this information The system can serve many uses and

function as a tourist or professional guide etc

Technical details

PHP and GD library MySQL XHTML Mobile Profile Geographic data in digital file format

Geographic data

Maps produced from the processing of digital spatial data

Digital files with spatial coordinates, not images

MIF (Mapinfo data interchange format) : text files for the description of digital data

Easy processing of data Scaling and resizing without loss of

information and quality

Administrator tool (1)

Secondary web based tool that requires desktop computer

Features: Insert, delete and modify cities Insert, delete and modify categories for points of

interests. For example museums, restaurants, hotels etc

Insert delete and modify points of interests. For example the archeological museum or the Hilton hotel

Administrator tool (2)

Screenshot: The

city’s index page

Mobile application (1)

Specifically designed for mobile devices following special guidelines

Features: Select one of the available cities View general information that the administrator

has added for each city Navigate through the map of the city. Navigation

starts from pre-specified points. Map scaling and resizing available

Search for points of interest Search for streets

Mobile application (2)

Screenshot: Navigation page

Mobile application (3)

Screenshot: Searching a point

Map Drawing

A parser reads spatial data from the files and applies the appropriate mathematical transformations to the coordinates

The map is generated with the use of functions of the GD library

Xmin

Ymin

Y

X

(0,0) (xmin,ymin)

(0,0) '

xmax

ymax

x ' = x-xmin

y ' = y-ymin

Measurements (1)

Usage scenario for bandwidth and time overhead measurements

Script execution time (the overall time depends on the network)

Total KBs received Use of the application with Samsung X460

(mobile phone), Qtek 8020 (smartphone) and HP PDA

Measurements (2)

Largest page, maximum script execution time:─ Mobile phone (128x160) : 7.90 KBs , 0.041 sec

─ Smartphone (176x220): 13.4 KBs , 0.06 sec

─ PDA (240x240): 19,3 KBs, 0.07

Conclusions

m-CHARTIS system presentation: a mobile map application

Aim: dissemination of location based information to mobile users

Emphasis on device independence Exploitation of capabilities of each device for

better interaction

Future work

Evaluation and user assessment of the application

Improvements based on the conclusions of the evaluation

Addition of new features such as finding the shortest path from one location of the map to another

End of presentation

THANK YOU!!!