Implementing Location Based Services for Mobile Devices equipped with GPS Capabilities

Abstract

Mobile phones and the Internet have revolutionized the communication and lifestyle of people. Mobile devices allow people to access the Internet where ever they are and whenever they want. Mobile location-based system is complex and requires the integration of many different technology components into one seamless system. Increasing capabilities of mobile handheld devices and Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) in term of processor, power, memory and devices like Global Positioning System (GPS) in new set of applications can be developed. Location based services (LBS) are information services, accessible with mobile devices through the mobile network and utilizes the ability to make use of the location of the mobile device. The location service application is aimed at providing mobile users the map of their current position based on the positioning data from the simulator. Location Based service is one of the promising application and variety of application can be design for users. This project is based on one such application called “Buddy- Tracker”. This application is based on kind of client-server application where server maintains the location of its users provide the appropriate alarm on map.

Buddy- Tracker is a location based service which is community driven. The purpose of the Buddy- Tracker is to create a platform where a set of users can share information about geographical positions between each other. The service consists of a server system and a client application. The server system stores the position data of the client’s location. The client application is developed for mobile phones equipped with GPS capabilities. The client side application is simulated on J2ME wireless toolkit 2.2. This application has identified appropriate communication mechanism for delivering location data to the new generation of smart phones such as Symbian, J2ME and others.