Context-Aware Applications - Guide to Cloud Computing for Business and Technology Managers - page 519

should be carefully handled by employing intelligent query-
processing techniques, especially for queries on complete
user traces.
iii. Support for movement constraints and transportation networks :
Most of the time, users move on certain routes as defined
by transportation networks (e.g., railways, roads), and their
movement is blocked depending on the morphology of the
land (e.g., mountains). The incorporation of such constraints
into query resolution may offer increased positioning accu-
racy to LBS despite the potentially low-accuracy positioning
technology used.
iv. Support for spatial data mining on vehicle movement.
v. Support for continuous location change in query-processing
techniques.
2. Ethical challenges : From an ethical point of view, a critical challenge
is to protect user privacy. LBS can potentially intrude on customer
privacy. The adoption of LBS is highly dependent on the successful
confrontation of digital frauds, attempts of intrusion in customer
databases with sensitive data and profiles, and the threat of unauthor-
ized or uncontrolled resale of location information. It has also been
shown that a privacy-intruding service (e.g., an always-on tracking
service), despite its usability, is not desirable by users since it does not
allow them to switch it off whenever they want. So, when designing
an LBS and in order for the service to be adopted, the provider should
take into account very seriously the user's concerns on privacy.
3. Business challenges : Capitalizing on the promise of LBS requires
developing sustainable and viable business models for offering such
services. Unfortunately, until today, there has been little effort on
developing a framework with which to identify the most appropri-
ate business models for the large variety of LBSs. The major obsta-
cle for this arises from the fact that there is a multitude of players
participating in the provision of such services forming a complex
value network.
The main categories under which these players are grouped are the
following:
• Application developers and content providers
• Service providers and network providers
• Hardware manufacturers
The roles of all these different actors or players are many times con-
flicting if not competitive, and fairness in revenue sharing is viewed
differently by each actor. In this context, it is difficult to determine
which activities should be performed by which actor (e.g., should