Karimi H.A. Universal Navigation on Smartphones

Подождите немного. Документ загружается.

Universal Navigation on Smartphones

Hassan A. Karimi

Universal Navigation

on Smartphones

1 3

Openmirrors.com

ISBN 978-1-4419-7740-3 e-ISBN 978-1-4419-7741-0

DOI 10.1007/978-1-4419-7741-0

Springer New York Dordrecht Heidelberg London

Library of Congress Control Number: 2011930261

permission of the publisher (Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, 233 Spring Street, New York, NY

10013, USA), except for brief excerpts in connection with reviews or scholarly analysis. Use in connec-

tion with any form of information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by

similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed is forbidden.

The use in this publication of trade names, trademarks, service marks, and similar terms, even if they are

not identified as such, is not to be taken as an expression of opinion as to whether or not they are subject

to proprietary rights.

Printed on acid-free paper

Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com)

Hassan A. Karimi

Geoinformatics Laboratory

University of Pittsburgh

School of Information Sciences

135 N. Bellefield Ave.

Pittsburgh Pennsylvania 15260

USA

hkarimi@sis.pitt.edu

Preface

Have you ever wondered why navigation systems have become so popular over the

past several years? Do you know why navigation services are becoming common-

place on mobile devices, particularly smartphones? The answer to these questions

is that with advanced technologies, no one has to get lost while travelling from one

location to another.

Mobility, or navigation, is a daily activity for all people everywhere, regardless

of geographic location, mode of travel, time and duration of travel, travel needs, or

travel purposes. Navigation can be a daunting task as transportation networks have

become very large and complex over time. Large transportation networks mean

increased ambiguities and difficult decisions to be made while in transit. Naviga-

tion could be further exacerbated when travelers are unfamiliar with their travel-

ling environments. Ambiguities and navigation decisions, which may involve the

whereabouts of an individual at any time during a trip or the step-by-step directions

to be followed during a trip, have produced a need for navigation devices to provide

navigation assistance.

Devices to assist with navigation have been around for decades and over that pe-

riod, a wide range of technologies such as geo-positioning sensors, mobile comput-

ing, and wireless communications have evolved. Of these technologies, the Global

Positioning System (GPS) mainly due to its pervasive nature, has had the most

impact on navigation systems and services. This impact has been so profound that

GPS has become synonymous with navigation, while in reality, it is only one of

several components within a navigation system. Today, there are devices for out-

door navigation assistance such as in-car navigation systems (offered as an extra in

some vehicles), portable navigation systems (mobile devices assisting drivers), and

navigation services (provided on cell phones and smartphones). While early naviga-

tion systems and services provided navigation assistance only for those in vehicles,

there are emerging outdoor navigation systems and services to assist pedestrians

with their navigation needs. In addition, we have seen the introduction of naviga-

tion systems and services to assist people in indoor wayfinding. While navigation

systems and services for outdoors and indoors are conceptually and operationally

similar, they are dissimilar with respect to the type of technologies and map data-

bases they need to operate. For example, outdoor navigation systems and services

vivi

are predominantly based on GPS for positioning cars and people, but GPS is not

available or effective for indoor navigation systems and services; instead WiFi, one

common geo-positioning sensor for indoor navigation, is used.

In this book, the current trends and future directions in navigation technology

aimed at providing navigation assistance are discussed and analyzed. The book con-

tains eight chapters covering topics on and related to navigation technology and

navigation trends, research directions, issues, and challenges.

Chapter 1 discusses navigation technology from its early development to con-

temporary systems and services. The chapter starts with a historical perspective,

providing an overview of the evolution of navigation technology, and discusses

the specific characteristics of navigation environments, technological advances, and

the challenges facing navigation technology in terms of indoor/outdoor travel and

information sources. In particular, the similarities and differences between outdoor

and indoor navigation systems and services are compared and analyzed. The chap-

ter also discusses the shortcomings of current navigation systems and services, and

briefly presents the concept of universal navigation and its potential to overcome

those shortcomings.

Chapter 2 discusses outdoor navigation in detail. It starts by describing the infor-

mation flow in outdoor navigation systems and highlighting the main components

of navigation systems including geo-positioning, map matching, geocoding, map-

ping, routing, and directions. The three main technologies, i.e., geo-positioning,

wireless communication, and database, supporting outdoor navigation systems are

examined. This is followed by descriptions of the typical functions performed in

these systems. The chapter ends with a discussion of usability in outdoor navigation

systems.

Chapter 3 provides an in-depth exploration of indoor navigation, including the

three primary technologies, i.e., geo-positioning, wireless communication, and da-

tabase, of indoor navigation systems. This chapter goes on to describe the typical

functions performed in these systems and concludes with a discussion of usability

in indoor navigation systems.

Chapter 4 presents the concept and technologies of Universal NAVIgation Tech-

nology (UNAVIT), which can provide navigation assistance anywhere, anytime,

and for any user. The chapter discusses the UNAVIT’s capabilities, as well as an

ontology. The features of UNAVIT, assistance for travel anywhere, anytime, by any

user, in any mode of travel automatically and adaptively, are discussed. A possible

architecture for UNAVIT is described, outlining the various components of such a

system. The chapter also looks at information flow in UNAVIT for smartphones

(Android and iPhone) and Web Mapping Services (e.g., Google Maps, Bing Maps,

Yahoo Maps).

Chapter 5 details the anywhere feature of UNAVIT. It begins with an ontology

highlighting the concepts of anywhere navigation and the relationships among those

concepts. Then, the different categories of anywhere navigation are analyzed: in-

door navigation, outdoor navigation, indoor-outdoor navigation, outdoor-indoor

navigation, and indoor-outdoor-indoor navigation. Two algorithms, one for naviga-

Preface

viivii

tion from outdoor to indoor and another for navigation from indoor to outdoor, are

described and analyzed.

Chapter 6 examines the anytime feature of UNAVIT, discussing how navigation

assistance could be affected by time of day, day of week, and the season. An ontol-

ogy to highlight the concepts in anytime navigation and the relationships among

them is presented. The chapter also describes an algorithm that addresses navigation

assistance based on different times and situations.

Chapter 7 discusses the anyuser feature of UNAVIT at a deeper level. The cat-

egories of users (general population, mobility-impaired, visually-impaired, cogni-

tively-impaired, elderly) are discussed. The chapter presents an ontology to high-

light the different needs and preferences of each category of users and describes an

algorithm to address the needs and preferences of each of those users.

Chapter 8 presents social navigation networks (SoNavNets) as a new method for

providing navigation assistance. The chapter starts by defining location-based so-

cial networks, a new approach to providing location-based services through social

networks. An ontology for SoNavNets, along with algorithms for request and rec-

ommendation, are outlined. To better understand the components and capabilities of

this new approach, a social navigation network (SoNavNet) system, developed by

the author in the Geoinformatics Laboratory of the School of Information Sciences

at the University of Pittsburgh, is presented. The chapter discusses and analyzes the

differences between the model-centric navigation assistance (the current comput-

ing approach) and the experience-centric navigation assistance (the SoNavNet ap-

proach) where members share navigation experiences with others.

Preface

Table of Contents

1 Introduction to Navigation .......................................................................... 1

1.1 Introduction ........................................................................................... 1

1.2 Outdoor Navigation ............................................................................... 4

1.3 Indoor Navigation ................................................................................. 7

1.4 Outdoor vs. Indoor Navigation ............................................................. 10

1.5 Shortcomings......................................................................................... 13

1.6 Universal Navigation ............................................................................ 14

1.7 Summary ............................................................................................... 16

Further Readings ............................................................................................ 16

2 Outdoor Navigation ..................................................................................... 17

2.1 Introduction ........................................................................................... 17

2.2 Technologies .......................................................................................... 18

2.2.1 Geo-positioning ......................................................................... 19

2.2.2 Wireless Communication .......................................................... 23

2.2.3 Database .................................................................................... 24

2.3 Functions ............................................................................................... 35

2.4 Static and Dynamic Navigation ............................................................ 45

2.5 User ....................................................................................................... 45

2.6 Summary ............................................................................................... 49

Further Readings ............................................................................................ 51

3 Indoor Navigation ........................................................................................ 59

3.1 Introduction ........................................................................................... 59

3.2 Technologies .......................................................................................... 60

3.2.1 Geo-positioning ......................................................................... 60

3.2.2 Wireless Communication .......................................................... 61

3.2.3 Database .................................................................................... 62

3.3 Functions ............................................................................................... 68

3.4 User ....................................................................................................... 71

3.5

Summary ............................................................................................... 72

Further Readings ............................................................................................ 72