> Master Final Work – Official Master in Free Software – Universitat Oberta de Catalunya < 1 Route optimization and customization using real geographical data in Android mobile devices Cira Cuadrat Seix 1 and Antoni Pérez Navarro 2 creation of routes especially for the preparation of tourist Abstract — Nowadays, there are several services and routes or location of POI’s. applications that allow users to locate and move to different Tourism is an area that has experienced tremendous growth tourist areas using a mobile device. These systems can be used in recent years thanks to the emergence of geographic either by internet or downloading an application in concrete information accessible to everybody and free of charge [4]. places like a visitors centre. Although such applications are able Web applications like GoogleMaps [5], OpenStreetMaps [6] to facilitate the location and the search for points of interest, in most cases, these services and applications do not meet the needs or Wikiloc [7] have their own versions to be used in of each user. Users can lose the internet connection or the results smartphones and other mobile devices. Moreover, there is a offered may not fit their schedules or their own personal tastes. wide range of applications that use these information systems This paper aims to provide a solution by studying the main providing specific services: audio tourist guides, default tourist projects, services and applications, their routing algorithms and routes, etc. their treatment of the real geographical data in Android mobile However, most mobile devices have many limitations to devices, focusing on the data acquisition and treatment to effectively manage geographic information, in most cases improve the routing searches in off-line environments. using a continuous Internet connection to run these applications on the server. The main problem lies in 3G or Index Terms — Android, OpenStreetMap, OSMAnd, routing, HSDPA (3.5G) coverage which only covers the most densely optimization populated areas as shown in the image: I. INTRODUCTION S defined in reference [1], the term Geographical A Information Systems (GIS) involves a wide range of hardware, software and geographic data organized for managing and analyzing spatial information referenced with the aim to solve complex problems of planning and management, but also used for individual purposes. With the advent of GPS software and the fast expansion and great acceptance for smartphones in the market such as IPhones, Blackberries or HTCs, and other mobile devices such as tablets and PDAs, has increased the number of GIS-based applications that deal with geographic information bringing it to the general public and promoting the creation of applications with functions for leisure and entertainment. These new applications provide information and services such as points of interest (POI’s), routes of all types, navigation and augmented reality [2]. Currently, only in the Android Market it Fig.1. Areas with 3G coverage in Spain [8]. is possibly to find over 400 applications related to location- based systems (LBS) and GPS [3]. Over half of these In addition, this service is expensive and often has limited applications are used in particular title, focusing mainly on the bandwidth consumption per month. Making the execution of these applications on the server is not a viable option because of the large number of areas where there is not coverage that most of the times are areas important Manuscript received January 19, 2012. This paper is the Master Final for tourist purposes. Running GIS applications on mobile Work in the Official Master in Free Software of the Universitat Oberta de devices independent of the server is necessary. However, as Catalunya and it was supported in part by project AVANZA2 (TSI-020110- pointed in [9] limitations in display performance and storage 2009-442). 1 C. Cuadrat Seix is a postgraduate student in the Universitat Oberta de capabilities of these devices hinder this option: small screens, Catalunya (e-mail: [email protected] ). low working memory, limited data entry, etc. Therefore 2 A. Pérez Navarro is a professor and the director of this work at the finding a solution that allows mobile users to have only the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Department of IT, Multimedia and amount of information they really need is necessary. That Telecommunications, Barcelona, Spain (e-mail: [email protected] ). > Master Final Work – Official Master in Free Software – Universitat Oberta de Catalunya < 2 means allowing the users to filter the data according to their important to know which OS gives more features and facilities needs and their preferences. Thus, the known client-server to develop this study. In order to choose one, the most architecture would be valid, even though, would only be important factors to be considered are explained below. required for short time periods because its goal is customizing The distinction between smartphones and feature phones the GIS for the user: the information sent would be different can be vague and there is no official definition for what according to the interests of the user (architecture, nature) or constitutes the difference between them. One of the most according to other factors such as the number or types of users, significant differences is that the advanced application or if the route is done in a vehicle (car, bicycle, walking). To programming interfaces (APIs) on smartphones for running achieve this goal will require considering several factors: to third-party applications can allow those applications to have improve the hardware of mobile devices with more working better integration with the phone's OS and hardware than is memory and computing power, to have more ability to get typical with feature phones. In comparison, feature phones input data, to better display and moreover to improve the more commonly run on proprietary firmware, with third-party running data, to create standardized ontologies that help to software support through platforms such as Java ME or optimize the user search, and furthermore, to create and refine BREW. An additional complication in distinguishing between algorithms that allow us to consider all this information and smartphones and feature phones is that over time the create routes for each user’s needs or tastes. capabilities of new models of feature phones can increase to This paper focuses on the study and the improving of exceed those of phones that had been promoted as routing algorithms to facilitate customization and meet the smartphones in the past. needs of users considering factors such as connectivity and the So, it’s obvious that the kernel of a SO is the software data processing in the routing algorithms. To carry this out, it responsible for providing secure access to the hardware is necessary to know the efforts that have been done in this device, responsible for managing resources, and that's why it's subject by the mobile device markets. important to know which kernel uses each the device. Both The paper is organized as follows: a review of the main Android and Palm are based on Linux. Blackberry is based on devices and the technologies involved is provided in the a proprietary kernel. Iphone is based on OS X. S60 is based on section 2. In section 3 are described Android, the OS selected Symbian and Windows Mobile is based in Windows CE. Both to develop the study, and its main APIs for routing. In section of them are all proprietary software. The main difference 4, there is a summary about the OpenStreetMap project and between a private or free distribution kernel, is that the kernel the presentation of some remarkable applications based on it which is based in open source software will have a large for mobile devices. Section 5 provides a review of graph community of developers, thanks to which it is possible to theory issues which are used in navigation and routing. In quickly find errors, make improvements and resolve problems section 6, the four Android projects selected are reviewed to facilitating the rapid adaptability to the needs of end users. know how they solve the main routing problems. In the Another important factor to consider is the adaptability of following sections, 7 and 8, the improvements from the ideas the platform to different terminals. In this item, Android has on the studied projects, are presented, implemented and tested. great adaptability since it is being increasingly used in more Finally, the paper closes with the key outcomes from the paper mobile devices and not just smartphones. and a brief discussion of the future challenges and direction of Finally, the last important factor to consider is connectivity. this research. It’s quite important having Wi-Fi Internet access and 3G connectivity to improve data acquisition. All current II. MAIN DEVICES AND TECHNOLOGIES INVOLVED smartphones offer this possibility with the only limitation of A mobile device is a small, hand-held computing device, the network are connected and the distributor of phone typically having a display screen with touch input and/or a services. miniature keyboard and less than 2 pounds (0.91 kg). Early Android is the platform chosen to carry out this project, for pocket sized ones were joined in the late 2000s by larger but the significantly increased demand in the market of Android otherwise similar tablet computers. As in a personal digital devices which is the 43% according to [11]-[12], (figure 2), assistant (PDA), the input and output are often combined into the availability of the applications, the fact that it is an OS a touch-screen interface. Nowadays, smartphones and tablets non-dependent on a specific hardware, and in addition, this are popular amongst those who wish to use some of the powers platform has an enormous community that offers many tools of a conventional computer in environments where carrying for the development.