Web Based Device Independent Mobile Map Applications. The m-Chartis System

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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
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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

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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

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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

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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

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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)

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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

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Technical details

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

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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

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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

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Administrator tool (2)

• Screenshot The
• citys index page

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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

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Mobile application (2)

• Screenshot Navigation page

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Mobile application (3)

• Screenshot Searching a point

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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• End of presentation
• THANK YOU!!!