Mobile Location Based Services Through the Internet Using AJAX, GeoRSS, and the Global Positioning System

Date of Graduation

Spring 2007

Degree

Master of Science in Geospatial Sciences

Department

Geography, Geology, and Planning

Committee Chair

Jun Luo

Abstract

With the advent of new and developing Internet technologies, a device that possesses both an active Internet connection and a link to Global Positioning System (GPS) can be used to provide a location based service (LBS) that requires minimal software of additional driver installation. Due to the expanding popularity and increased functionality of web-driven applications, mobile and wireless Internet zones, and an increased interest in handheld devices that are GPS-enabled, the need for free and reliable LBS is ever-present and needs to be explored to its furthest potential. The primary method of achieving Internet-based LBS in this thesis' instance will be to investigate the use of a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) that has a GPS receiver and wireless fidelity (WiFi) to achieve improvised and accurate location based services. Geospatial data of points of interest around the user's current location and any other relevant imagery or Geospatial hypermedia will be placed in Geographical Really Simple Syndication (GeoRSS) feeds. Relevant geospatial data will be distributed through the wireless Internet in the user's Internet browser based on the coordinates obtained by the PDA's GPS receiver. The engine that will drive the Geospatial data to the user's web browser will be the latest Internet scripting technique known as AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) that allows for the Geospatial data stored in the GeoRSS feeds to be loaded silently and efficiently in the background of the web browser without the user's knowledge and without the traditionally long load times. The results of this research prove that it is possible to provide a fast, efficient, and reliable location based service that displays relevant Geospatial data and hypermedia using two new Internet technologies: AJAX and GeoRSS.

Keywords

geospatial, GPS, LBS, AJAX, GeoRSS, PDA, WiFi

Subject Categories

Geographic Information Sciences

Copyright

© Daniel William Kushins

Citation-only

Dissertation/Thesis

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