Investigation in the development of Standalone Location Based

Investigation in the development of Standalone Location Based Services FINAL PROJECT PRESENTATIONS Nkululeko Gojela Supervisor: Dr Hannah Thinyane

Presentation Outline • • Introduction Problem Statement Project Objectives Implementation Reporte on Findings Conclusion Future Work Questions?

Introduction • Location Based Services (LBS) depend of location information of subjects. • Mobile devices are a suitable platform for hosting LBS. • LBS implementations: – LBS with a supporting aggregation infrastructure. – Standalone LBS

Standalone vs Aggregator Based Services Location Content Provider Location Information Server (Aggregator)

Project Objectives • Examine the methods used for locating devices and: – How information available divides the types of services that can be developed. • Explore the extent of portability of LBS services given current technologies. • Develop a service that can used test for the above mentioned.

Adopted Approach • Developed service to be run on two layers of mobiles devices: – SIM Card Layer: would guarantee PORTABILITY – Application Layer: Access to devices capabilities, GPS unit, lesser memories restrictions, etc.

Loxion. Sys Application – Java Card • Initial idea to develop the service as a Java Card Applet: – Java Card provides commands that are used to interaction with the SIM card. – Card performs instructions and returns result. • PROVIDE LOCAL INFORMATION pro-cmd command – Card is “proactive” – initiates the commands by itself.

Loxion. Sys Application – Java Card PROVIDE LOCAL INFORMATION pro-cmd command private void My. Local. Info() throws Toolkit. Exception { Proactive. Handler ph = Proactive. Handler. get. The. Handler(); ph. init(PRO_CMD_PROVIDE_LOCAL_INFORMATION, (byte)0 x 00, DEV_ID_ME); ph. send(); } Command qualifiers: '00' = Location Information according to current NAA; '01' = IMEI of the terminal; '02' = Network Measurement results according to current NAA; '03' = Date, time and time zone; • This means that we are able get the current CELLID from the network.

Loxion. Sys Application – Java Card • Issue with this approach: – Operator SIM Cards encrypted and locked down. • No way to test unless operator buy in. – Complication with Development environment led to inability to continue with development. • But given the CELLID from the network, we are able to approximate the location of the device. • By knowing the CELLID and knowing the CELL position. • Open source projects such as Open. Cell. ID we can find the location of the GSM cell.

Loxion. Sys Application – Java ME • Reminder services developed in Java ME. • Java ME because of wide support by mobile device manufacturers. – Greater chances of portability than other languages. – Support Location Based Services: JSR-179 Location API for J 2 ME Specification and it’s implementation.

Loxion. Sys cont… • Services allow users to: – Current location information (Coordinates) – View position on Google Maps Static Images. – Set Landmarks are current locations. – Trigger Events (Vibrate, Alert Messages, SMS Message) on proximity to landmarks.

Loxion. Sys cont… • Java ME defines the Location API with the features needs for the developed of LBS: – – – Discovery of Current location Landmark Proximity listeners Location listeners Address data associates with landmarks. s.

Loxion. Sys cont…

Loxion. Sys cont… • However not all mobile devices have GPS support and therefore implement the Location API. • Alternative method is Network Positioning. • However position information is only available to network operators. • By making use of system properties, we can find the Cell. ID the devices is connected to.

Loxion. Sys cont… • Because there is no implementation where there is no GPS unit, Landmark storage is provided through the Java ME RMS. • This allows us similar functionality provided by the Location API. • Other functions include: – View location on Google Static MAPS – Select desired reminder type [Vibrate devices, Send SMS, Flash Backlight] – Possibly looking at ability to send new Cell. IDs and coordinates to Open. Cell. ID Database.

Findings • Portability is not completely possible due to different manufacturers implementation of Java Specifications. • Even though the GPS unit enables short range services: – Some of the challenges with accuracy as different response was received with different GPS equipped devices. – Non-GPS equipped device get excluded from these services, but no evidence of no portability between GPS equipped devices.

Findings • Using Cell. ID would enable for LBS where area covered is larger. e. g. Weather Services. – Whoever some challenge around some manufacturer specific implementations limit portability: • System. get. Property("Cell. ID"); //Retrieve Cell. ID form network • System. get. Property("com. nokia. mid. cellid"); //For Nokia

Project Objectives • Examine the methods used for locating devices and: – How information available divides the types of services that can be developed. • Explore the extent of portability of LBS services given current technologies. • Develop a service that can used test for the above mentioned.

Conclusion • The adoption of Java by mobile device manufacturers provide a step towards portability. • Evidence of completely portability not a available. • Type location information available divides the types of services that can be developed.

Future Work • Future explore the development of LBS on the Java Card. – Whether some of the challenges on the application layer are eliminated on the SIM Card layer. • Security related issue with standalone LBS and proposed solution for them.

Questions