18.1 Location-Based Services
LBS include all applications that make use of location and geographic data. It is touted as the killer app for mobile commerce because it enables brand new applications not possible in the desktop world. There are several types of LBS applications:Pull-based applications: The user actively sends out her location information to a server and pulls in location information such as driving maps and nearby stores.Push-based applications: Service providers detect users in their proximity and push out services such as coupons and advertisements. A central issue in push-based applications is how to protect user privacy. Location information can be highly sensitive. It is extremely important vendors get information from and push services to only opt-in users.A combination of pull and push: For example, a user can first pull nearby coffee shop locations and make a mobile reservation. Then he can send meeting alerts to peers within certain distances from the shop. The peers will be able to accept or reject the invitation.Although LBS offers appealing business values, its implementation technologies are sophisticated. The core technology for any LBS solution is Geographic Information System (GIS), which performs important functions such as determining street addresses from coordinates and vice versa; look up yellow pages and landmarks; calculate optimal routes and render custom maps. It is the integration point of many heterogeneous components in the LBS application. This makes XML Web Services a perfect fit here. In the next section, we discuss a leading commercial GIS Web service: Microsoft MapPoint. |
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