NEXUS — positioning and data management concepts for location-aware applications

D Fritsch, D Klinec, S Volz
2001 Computers, Environment and Urban Systems  
The research project "NEXUS" aims at the development of a generic platform that supports location aware applications with mobile users. It is currently being carried out within a so-called research group supported by the DFG (German Research Council) in The main task of the platform concerns the management of dynamic spatial models that represent the real world as well as virtual objects. The virtual objects act as brokers between the platform and external information sources and services, so
more » ... at information stored e.g. within the WWW can be structured spatially. The spatial data have to be delivered in multiple representations -from highly detailed 3D representations of indoor areas to coarse 2D town plans -in order to provide the adequate level of detail for each application. Spatially aware applications which are using GIS models are available for the users on small handheld devices like PDAs. These computers are equipped with sensors for positioning and mobile communication. Therefore, the applications know the position of the users within the spatial models (they are "location aware") and can receive spatial data from distributed servers. Thus the NEXUS customers are not only able to move through the real but also through the virtual world. In order to support them on their way, GIS functionality has to be provided: users have to be able to perform spatial queries on their environment and to navigate through the virtual models and thus an interface to GIS has to be implemented. Within a first prototype, a commercially available GIS has been used to realize a Spatial Model Server. On the client side, a Java-API has been developed that takes advantage of the GIS features provided by the employed system: it allows client applications to carry out complex spatial procedures such as network analysis.
doi:10.1016/s0198-9715(00)00026-0 fatcat:rsogsw6jnbbs3p33hw2angxyku