Global Positioning System Reference
In-Depth Information
suitable only for desktop environments, what GIS features are actually
implemented in current location-based applications?
Although it has been a great progress with location-based applications,
we still miss some important features, especially regarding the step by step
navigation, working off-line.
Most smartphone applications perform routing operations through
servers, where most of operations are pre-calculated to be more effi cient (see
for example, Noguera et al. 2013). When the user is off-line, Google Maps
for Android has a re-routing function. If the user starts the route on-line and
the server connection drops, the application is still able to guide the user
to the right path. However, the user still needs a server for the initial draw.
Another application, called OsmAnd (OsmAnd 2012) has routing off-line
still in an experimental stage and works only for short distances.
It is important to note, that a routing system is not a tourist application,
since the user has to choose the places to visit. A true tourist application
should have to be able to provide customized information to the user,
according to his or her geographic location, as well as his or her personal
preferences, and all these processes should run off-line. Such a system does
not still exist. How can we build it?
There are several solutions for the routing part that work in desktop
and off-line environments. But how personalization can be addressed is
lacking in them. Our initial approximation is by using the techniques of
Semantic Web and ontologies.
Semantic Web
The large amount of data in the Web, their centralization and lack of
standardization makes very diffi cult the task of the agents in providing
complete and updated information to the user. The selection of information
relevant to the user gains more importance when smartphones come into
play.
Therefore, in order to manage the information available on the Web it
is essential to locate, process and integrate all relevant information. Since
most of the information on the Web has been generated without any control
or organization, it is necessary to use technologies that allow computers
to process all available information from a semantic point of view for
classifi cation and subsequent use. Thus arises the Semantic Web concept,
defi ned by Berners-Lee (Berners-lee et al. 2001), whose objective is to provide
a well-defi ned meaning to information, allowing computers to
understand
and then
use
the information available on the Web.
One of the main benefi ts that arise from the Semantic Web is the ability to
integrate data from different sources in order to obtain more accurate search
results and to be able to automate complex tasks. To do so, computers must
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