Location-Aware Applications

Richard Ferraro Murat Aktihanoglu MANNING Location Aware Applications Richard Ferraro Murat Aktihanoglu Chapter 1 Copyright 2011 Manning Publications brief contents PART 1LBS, THE BIG PICTURE 1 ■ Location-based services: an overview 2 ■ Positioning technologies 3 ■ Mapping 4 ■ Content options PART 2TECHNOLOGY 5 ■ Consumer applications 6 ■ Mobile platforms 7 ■ Connectivity issues 8 ■ Server-side integration PART 3CREATING WINNING LBS BUSINESSES 9 ■ Monetization of location-based services 10 ■ The privacy debate 11 ■ Distributing your application 12 ■ Securing your business idea v Part 1 LBS, the big picture In this first part of the book, we look at the big picture of location awareness and location-based services (LBSs). From the first chapter, you’ll gain an understanding of what an LBS is and of the different elements that make up a typical service. It also widens your view of the range of LBS applications that exist across different industries and the globe. Chapter 2 gives you all the facts you need to understand the positioning technologies available today, highlighting both their strengths and weaknesses in building location-aware applications. Chapter 3 takes you through mapping options you can choose from when developing your application, and also covers the open source mapping components now available in the market. With millions of applications now available to choose from, content remains king and can help set your application apart from those of the competition. The last chapter in this section, chapter 4, gives you insight into dif ferent content that can be included in your application, from map layers to content mashups. After digesting this part of the book, you should deve lop a feel for how LBS works on mobile and the amazing opportunities that this technology now opens up to developers and businesses. Location-based services: an overview This chapter covers Elements of a location-based service Using LBS in the commercial and consumer sectors Challenges of developing mobile LBS Future opportunities of LBS Location, location, location! This co mmon answer to the question “what matters most when buying real estate?” is rapidly becoming the answer to “what matters most in today’s world of mobile services?” Why is location so important? Location is a fundamental aspect of the new, exciting world of mobile web- enabled services, revolutionizing how we go about our daily lives. The usefulness of many of today’s most popular mobile applications and services is determined by one key factor: where you are at the exact moment when you’re using the service. 3 4 CHAPTER 1 Location-based services: an overview Whether you’re checking in to your social network or looking for a pharmacy in the middle of the night, the key is always th e same: location. The a bility to know where you are and how to get to some place has gone from being a desirable add-on to a mobile phone to becoming an everyday necessity. This book will explore the exciting world of location-based services and location- aware applications, which were initially promoted by mo bile operators to boost mobile usage but which became increasingly demanded by consumers keen to have location on tap. When we talk about location-based services, we’re referring to a wide range of applications and web services designed to work effectively on mobile devices by using some form of positioning or location-based technology. This chapter aims to introduce you to the fascinating world of location-based services (LBS) and how it’ s fast becoming the most important categor y of mobile applications worldwide. We’ll spend some time considering the wide range of LBS services already in existence today but al so take a sneak peek at the exciting developments that are in store for the future. But before we get to all the goodies, you first need to know a little more about what we mean by location-based services. 1.1 What are location-based services? Let’s start with the basics. Everyone understands the concepts of paper maps, and ever more people know that electronic maps are now available on mobile devices. These initially simple maps have added layers of data, or points of interest, that allow users to see the location of stores, gas stations, and more. In so doing, these maps have become crude location-based services. Typically you could define a location-based service as an information service, acces- sible with mobile devices through the mobile network and utilizing the ability to make use of the geographical position of the mobile device. This definition is out of date in the current generation of mobile and web services (the so-called Web 2.0). Today, user involvement (yes, that means you!) is the name of the game, and an ability to generate content is core to the ser vices or applications provided. A better definition of an LBS today is a service where The user is able to determine their location. The information provided is spatially related to the user’s location. The user is of fered dynamic or t wo-way interaction with the location information or content. This way, the user can answer three key questions: Where am I? What can I do nearby? What do I think of this place? Now that we’ve looked at an updated definition of LBS, we can move on to taking a look at exactly what makes up a location-based service. What are location-based services? 5 1.1.1 Key components of an LBS Having covered our bases, we can now look into the individual elements of a location- based service. Four key components are common to all applications: mobile device, content provider, communication network, and positioning component, all of which are shown in figure 1.1. Together, these elements form part of the LBS value chain. We’ll now look at each element in more detail to understand the value that each one brings to LBS. MOBILE DEVICE The diversity of the mobile device population adds a layer of complexity to LBS application development that has to be properly factored in, especially during the testing phases prior to bringing the service online. When we talk about mobile devices, we’re specifically referring to an electronic device capable of connecting to a mobile network, via a subscriber identity module (SIM) card, and transferring voice and/or data (making phone calls and downloading electronic maps, for example). The key opportunity for mobile application developers is that while PC-based location-based services were useful in the home, they couldn’t be taken out and used on the go. This limited their usefulness and confined them to a small group of users. Mobile devices have vastly expanded the market for LBS and made it a highly demanded utility outside the home. Figure 1.1 Makeup of a location-based service illustrating the four key components required to deliver a fully functional service to the user of the service 6 CHAPTER 1 Location-based services: an overview Although the Symbian OS platform remains prominent among the mobile device population, representing roughly half of all handsets, the popularity of smartphones is leading to an increasing number of handsets with competing operating systems such as RIM, Windows Phone 7, Linux, iOS, Android, and Palm webOS, among others. Smartphones have been of speci al importance in the rapid uptake of LBS, given their generally large screen size (making maps easily visible) and their almost universal inclusion of positioning technology (such as the Global Positioning System, or GPS). A more recent phenomenon is the growth of netbooks (9-inch-screen mini-laptops used primarily for web surfing through always-on 3G or Wi-Fi internet connections). These were first launched in 2007, but already 29 million were sold in 2009 (account- ing for 40 percent of the laptop market).1 This, coupled with the possible evolution of the tablet PC (spurred on by Apple’s trumpeted launch in 2010 of the iPad, pictured in figure 1.2), means that developers need to think of a mobile device as something other than a regular mobile phone. Figure 1.2 This iPad is running the Yellow Pages LBS application, currently one of the most downloaded iPad applications in the United States. 1 “Tablet Computers,” FT.com Lex, January 26, 2010. What are location-based services? 7 What makes location services on connected mobile devices exciting is their ability to move beyond displaying static location data. By refreshing content used by the location app or service on a more-or-less continuous basis, consumers can access a wealth of information at the touch of a button. Next we’ll briefly consider where this content may come from. CONTENT PROVIDER A mobile content provider is an entity that creates or owns media (content) that can be provided to mobile devices, either directly or through a third party. The role of content providers has become more and more important with the surge in the number of mobile applications and services available to mobil e subscribers. This has led to many application developers and distributors striving for ever-more-compelling content. LBS providers don’t normally store or maintain all of the co ntent and data that’s being accessed by the user on the mobile device. An obvious example is the mapping data, which is generally provided by one of the major map providers, such as NAVTEQ. Increasingly, the data being accessed is m ade available to the user as a map layer through third-party content providers, which can be typically switched on or off at the user’s request (displaying gas stations but not pharmacies, for example).

Load more