Developing location-aware navigation guides that use mobile geographic information systems

Abstract

A prototype of a location-aware travel guide for pedestrians was designed and implemented with the aid of mobile geographical information systems. Unlike traditional paper maps, the digital travel guide offers a customized user interface and a location-specific travel service. Development was done on a desktop computer, and the essential files subsequently were transferred to a personal digital assistant for field trials. By using the Global Positioning System, the prototype can accurately pinpoint a user's location to a certain tolerance. This detection is performed at specific intervals, and a list of landmarks is furnished to the user through a Visual Basic script-based interactive graphical user interface. The user can obtain comprehensive information on surrounding buildings or sights, in both textual and digital image forms. A novel indexing method built on road segmentation was implemented to increase search efficiency. Experimental results show that this indexing method has made a significant improvement in system response over the exhaustive search method and thereby helps travelers to find the right way and enjoy their trips.