Location Based Services

Matlock: A Location Obfuscation Technique for Accuracy-Restricted Applications

by Pedro Wightman

Co-authhored with Miguel A. Jimeno, Daladier Jabba and Miguel Labrador
Presented in IEEE WCNC 2012

Location-based information systems (LBIS) have shown growth in the last years thanks to the popularization of cheap... more Location-based information systems (LBIS) have shown growth in the last years thanks to the popularization of cheap GPS-enabled mobile devices with connectivity to the Internet. At the same time, users have made their locations more available than ever, representing a major privacy problem, as attackers could easily determine their victims’ common paths or actual locations. As a result, some techniques have been designed to protect the users’ private information while allowing Location Based Service systems (LBS) to continue growing. Location obfuscation is a technique that alters, substitutes, or generalizes the real location of the users to protect them against malicious attacks. Moreover, there are activities that require a high level of accuracy while also maintaining the protection of the location, such as fleet management or transportation of valuables. In this work, a light-weight and fully reversible location obfuscation technique named Matlock is presented. Matlock, based on matrix obfuscation, requires low computation per operation and hides the location in both spatial and temporal dimensions. The performance evaluation shows how this technique alters the location of paths from different geographical regions, produces a non-morphologically similar path to the original path, and  enerates increasing distance functions between the original and the obfuscated paths, which together should reduce the probability of using estimation techniques to perform deobfuscation of the information.

Predictive Buffering for Streaming Video in 3G Networks

by Varun Singh

Varun Singh and Joerg Ott and Igor Curcio, IEEE WoWMoM 2012, June 2012

This paper presents a multimedia streaming service in a mobile (3G) environment that, in addition to in-band... more This paper presents a multimedia streaming service in a mobile (3G) environment that, in addition to in-band congestion signals such as packet losses and delay variations, receives congestion cues from a Network Coverage Map Service (NCMS) to make rate-control decisions. The streaming client routinely queries the NCMS to assess the network conditions at future locations along its expected path. The streaming client may ask the streaming server for short-term transmission bursts to increase pre-buffering when it is approaching areas with bad network performance to maintain media quality. If needed, the client may also switch to a different encoding rate (rate switching) depending on the severity of expected congestion. These notifications are scheduled as late as possible, so that any changes in network conditions and/or changes in user's movements can be taken into account (late scheduling). Using this type of geo-predictive media streaming service we show that the streaming client can provide pause-less playback and better quality of experience to the user.

Location Based Guidance Services in a Museum Environment: Deployment Issues and a Proposed Architectural Approach

by Nikolaos Konstantinou

Co-authored with A. Zafeiropoulos, E. Solidakis, S. Zoi, P. Stathopoulos and N. Mitrou, In International Conference on Wireless Information Networks and Systems (WINSYS'07), Barcelona, Spain (2007)

In this paper we examine the requirements for deploying advanced Location Based Guidance Services in museum and/or... more In this paper we examine the requirements for deploying advanced Location Based Guidance Services in museum and/or exhibition environments, and we propose an architectural approach that copes with these requirements. The proposed architecture provides automatic and on demand audiovisual content retrieval, both on-site and through the Web, to different classes of users. On-site services are provided through Java-enabled devices, which exploit the user’s contextual state, mainly defined as visitor location and organization of exhibits. The main distinguishing characteristic of the proposed architecture is that it separates the positioning system from the content access mechanisms, while being generic to the selection of the localization technology and the terminal device characteristics. Furthermore, it is built as an open, modular platform comprising a core of reusable components and interfaces for supporting different types of services and devices, including widespread Java and Bluetooth enabled smart phones, while being able to reuse already existing content structures. A test case of a museum e-guidance application for Bluetooth enabled smart phones is presented.

Exploiting Bluetooth for deploying indoor LBS over a localisation infrastructure independent architecture

by Nikolaos Konstantinou

co-authored with Anastasios Zafeiropoulos (first author), Ioannis Papaioannou, Emmanuel Solidakis, Panagiotis Stathopoulos and Nikolas Mitrou, published in Int. J. Computer Aided Engineering and Technology (IJCAET), Vol. 2, No. 2, pp. 145-163, 2010

This paper presents an evaluation of using the low cost Bluetooth wireless technology, as a localisation technique,... more This paper presents an evaluation of using the low cost Bluetooth wireless technology, as a localisation technique, fitted in a lightweight approach for providing web-based location aware content through Java enabled handheld devices. This approach separates the positioning system from the content access mechanisms, while being generic and independent to the selection of the localisation technique, i.e., GPS, Bluetooth, etc. A test case application for Bluetooth enabled smart phones demonstrates the capacity of the approach, when combined with Bluetooth localisation, to provide location based content retrieval to the widest possible array of end users, while using their personal mobile devices, without the need to acquire and manage specially built user terminals. Useful results are also extracted for Bluetooth’s behaviour, while being used as a localisation technique, with regard to the provided accuracy, usual inquiry time, possible interference from other wireless technologies and imposed hardware requirements.

A Lightweight Approach for Providing Location Based Content Retrieval

by Nikolaos Konstantinou

Co-authored with A. Zafeiropoulos, E. Solidakis, S. Zoi, P. Papageorgiou, P. Stathopoulos and N. Mitrou, In 18th IEEE International Symposium on Personal, Indoor and Mobile Radio Communications (PIMRC'07), Athens, Greece (2007)

This paper presents a lightweight approach for providing web-based location aware multimedia content retrieval through... more This paper presents a lightweight approach for providing web-based location aware multimedia content retrieval through Java enabled handheld devices. The main distinguishing characteristic of the proposed approach is that it separates the positioning system from the content access mechanisms, while being generic to the selection of the localization technology. Furthermore, it is built as an open, standards-based, modular architecture comprising a core of reusable components and interfaces for supporting different types of services, through web technologies. On-site services are provided through smart phones, which exploit the user’s contextual state, mainly defined as end-user location and organization of points of interest.  A test case of a museum e-guidance application for smart phones is presented.

Implications of the usage of mobile collaborative mapping systems for the sense of place

by Florian Fischer

An Analysis of the Perceived Value of Touristic Location Based Services

by Barbara Neuhofer

Neuhofer, B. (2012) An Analysis of the Perceived Value of Touristic Location Based Services. In: Fuchs, M., Ricci, F. & Cantoni, L. (Eds.), Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2012, Vienna, Austria: Springer Verlag, pp. 84 -95.

The original publication is available at www.springerlink.com

Location based services have gained increasing importance for the tourism industry in recent years. However, a real... more Location based services have gained increasing importance for the tourism industry in recent years. However, a real breakthrough to the mass market has not been fully achieved yet, due to a number of potential reasons, inter alia, institutional circumstances, drawbacks in technology and missing understanding of the real values inherent in location based services. Preliminary literature still indicates a lack of research in terms of understanding consumers’ perceptions towards location based services from a consumer-centric rather than a technology-focused perspective. Therefore, the aim of this particular study is to investigate the actual consumer perceived value of touristic location based services. An exploratory sequential strategy is applied to develop and test a six-dimensional measurement scale. The findings suggest the extension of the original model by two new value dimensions, namely informational and convenience value. Further need for research and managerial implications are provided.

A conceptual framework providing Direct Anonymous Attestation (DAA) protocol in trusted location-based services (LBS)

by Jamalul-lail Ab Manan

A prototype for a blind navigation system

by Hugo Fernandes

Authors: Henriques, F.; Fernandes, H.; Paredes, H.; Martins, P.; Barroso, J.

In recent years the mobility and navigation of people with visual impairments started to be taken into high... more In recent years the mobility and navigation of people with visual impairments started to be taken into high consideration, with chances of major increase in the years to come. Most navigation systems fail in terms of accuracy and availability of contextual information that is suitable for blind users, making current commercial systems useless to be used in this kind of scenario. The main goal of the SmartVision project is to fill this gap, providing accurate and contextually rich information about the environment around the user’s current location, simplifying the navigation and increasing the overall accuracy of the system, while preventing the user from dangerous locations. The technology is currently available and the prototype follows a modular structure, already developed. This paper presents a way for integrating all the available modules, in order to create a fully usable prototype for the SmartVision project.

Personal Geolocation System

by Hugo Fernandes

Authors: Sousa, A.; Fernandes, H.; Faria, J.; Reis, A.; Gonçalves, R.; Barroso, J.

With the recent expansion of services available in the Web, the Internet is becoming more and more a network of... more With the recent expansion of services available in the Web, the Internet is becoming more and more a network of services, at a global scale. These services cover the majority of business areas, such as: bank account management, trip reservation, hotel bookings, information search portals, social networks, etc. A related subarea is the georreferencing of objects and people. The appearance of services like Google Earth and Virtual Earth has created enormous Web based service creation opportunities, allowing the interconnection of the digital and real worlds. In this work we present a project intended for locating the physical places associated with a person, based on his email address. This project implements a search portal that associates a user to an email and a set of user defined locations.

Studying PH.A.N.T.O.M in the Wild: A Pervasive Persuasive Game for Daily Physical Activity

by Rameshnath Krishnasamy

Mobile Travel Guide: An Initial Study of Contents and Appearance

by Mohammad Hafiz Ismail

Proceedings of 3rd International Conference on Informatics and Technology 2009

The paper presents the result of a study conducted on a prototype mobile travel guide to improve its usability of... more The paper presents the result of a study conducted on a prototype mobile travel guide to improve its usability of mobile application. It discusses the findings in terms of suitable contents and interface design for such application that is implemented for devices with limited screen size. The prototype of mobile travel guide consists of travel information that aids its users in their journey at a particular destination. The prototype has been tested on the field against 12 participants, aged between 10 to 39 years old who has between 4-12 years of experience of using mobile phones. This study has summarized the differences between two distinct user group based on their age and their reaction to the prototype contents and appearance.

Ubiquitous Anthropology

by Salvatore Iaconesi

co-authored with: Luca Simeone, published in Consciousness Reframed X proceedings: "Experiencing Design, behaving Media"

This paper presents the initial results of a research project (which is still underway) that aims to explore new forms... more This paper presents the initial results of a research project (which is still underway) that aims to explore new forms of ethnographic representation and writing.
In particular, the diffusion of geo-tagging technologies and practices has allowed the creation of a plural media platform, in which the many subjectivities that observed a complex Bororo funeral ritual (in the Brazilian Mato Grosso) were able to recount their point of view by writing notes, taking photographs, and recording sounds or video clips.  The ethnographic account that resulted demonstrates all of the richness of a polyphonic approach, in which voices and ideas that are even very different from one another are all equally represented.
This paper highlights the educational potential of these ubiquitous and distributed ethnographic accounts which, much more than classic text books, can help students to experience the greatest challenge of anthropology firsthand: a confident openness toward world visions and points of view that are radically different from their own.

Aggregation of composite location-aware services for mobile cellular networks

by Antonio Liotta

An Open-Source Web Architecture for Adaptive Location Based Services

by Andrea Ballatore

Location-aware system for olive fruit fly spray control

by Theodore Tsiligiridis

Computers and Electronics in Agriculture (COMPAG), Vol. 70, Issue 2, pp.355-368, March 2010.
co-authored with C.Pontikakos and M.Drougka

Location-based services: architecture overview

by Theodore Tsiligiridis

International Congress on Information Technology in Agriculture, Food and Environment (ITAFE'05), October 12-14, 2005, Adana, Turkey.
co-authored with C.Pontikakos and T.Glezakos

Evaluation of Location Obfuscation Techniques for Privacy in Location Based Information Systems

by Pedro Wightman

Accepted in IEEE Latincom 2011
Coauthored with Winston Coronell, Miguel Jimeno, Daladier Jabba and Miguel Labrador

In recent years, smart-phones and GPS-enabled devices have been a critical factor in the popularization and increasing... more In recent years, smart-phones and GPS-enabled devices have been a critical factor in the popularization and increasing demand of location based information systems. However, at the same time, the concern of privacy has also increased on users who would like to protect their exact location from attackers or from the service provider. One technique to protect the location is called Location Obfuscation, which consists in non reversible ways to slightly alter the location such that it does not reflect the real location of the user, but still contains enough information to provide a satisfactory service. In this work, the N-Rand, N-Mix and the N-Dispersion techniques are introduced and compared with other two existing techniques, Rand and Distortion, in terms of distance-based metrics. The results show that the N-Rand and N-Dispersion techniques produce a larger minimum distance to the original location, and the greatest average distance to the original path.

AnswerTree – a collaborative mobile location-based educational game

by Elizabeth FitzGerald (née Brown)

Full citation:
Moore, A., Goulding, J., Brown, E. and J. Swan (2009) AnswerTree – a collaborative mobile location-based educational game. Proceedings of the mLearn 2009 Conference, Orlando, Florida, 26-30 Oct 2009, pp 199-202.

In this paper we present AnswerTree, a collaborative mobile location-based educational game designed to teach 8-12... more In this paper we present AnswerTree, a collaborative mobile location-based educational game designed to teach 8-12 year olds about trees and wildlife within the University of Nottingham campus. The activity is designed around collecting virtual cards (similar in nature to the popular Top Trumps games) containing graphics and information about notable trees. Each player begins by collecting one card from a game location, but then he or she can only collect further cards by answering questions – whose solutions are obtainable through sharing knowledge with other cardholders. This ostensibly allows each player to become a subject expert at the start of the game, encouraging collaborative interaction for the game to be successfully completed. In this initial paper we will outline the structure and background of this location based game. AnswerTree has been authored within the Hyperplace framework, and is a first implementation of a wider process to develop a flexible, multi-purpose platform for both individual and group location-based mobile learning.

Robot-based Evaluation of Bluetooth Fingerprinting

by Khuong An Nguyen

MPhil Cambridge Thesis

Indoor tracking is a new research area, which is not yet fully solved. All current indoor tracking systems are either... more Indoor tracking is a new research area, which is not yet fully solved. All current indoor tracking systems are either expensive or not accurate enough. In this project, a new affordable indoor tracking system was proposed and implemented for an office room. Through-out the research, a large scale experiment was conducted to verify the stability and the reliability of the system. It was observed that the Bluetooth signal is very stable with typical features of a radio wave signal, and is reliable to be implemented into an indoor positioning system. The fingerprinting method was employed to manipulate the Bluetooth signal at many positions in the office room. In addition, a robot was created to perform the complex and time-consuming data collection process. The system has the benefit of affordable Bluetooth technology and the accuracy of robotics.

Keywords: indoor tracking, fingerprinting, Bluetooth, robotics.