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Fangxiong and Zhiyong 2004). The same issue is similar to mobile device, which has many charac-teristics that differ from one device to another.

Assuming that a mobile device is a portable device with mobile communication capabilities,processor, RAM, and local storage hard disk, can surf the internet and be connected to GPS device.

Smartphone, PDA (Personal Data Assistant) and Pocket PC are samples of mobile devices.Mobile GIS will be defined as the ability of mobile device to display geospatial data, and re-

ceive, process, and retrieve the GIS requests of mobile user. The most common framework for mo-bile GIS is to be considered as an extension to Web-GIS, where the GIS requests of the mobile userare processed via internet web browser. This framework was extended and tailored to display geos-patial data and perform GIS operations on mobile device. The comparison between laptop and mo-bile devices are given in Table 1.

2.1 Characteristics of mobile device

The mobile device is similar to small notebook, as some experts like to call it mini-laptop. This newdevice is a mix between mobile phone device, which is used for GSM communication, and in the

same time it has its own processor, RAM and hard disk which are the main components of the PC.Usually, the mobile device has a GPS-receiver attached to it, which provides its positional aware-ness and a digital camera. In the past, the mobile device was used as mobile phone and as advancedorganizer, and with advancement in technology development, it became an important device that

links to databases, perform transaction operations, browse the internet, and display geospatial data.The mobile device is similar to small notebook, as some experts like to call it mini-laptop. Thisnew device is a mix between mobile phone device, which is used for GSM communication, and in

the same time it has its own processor, RAM and hard disk which are the main components of thePC. Usually, the mobile device has a GPS-receiver attached to it, which provides its positional

awareness and a digital camera. In the past, the mobile device was used as mobile phone and asadvanced organizer, and with advancement in technology development, it became an importantdevice that links to databases, perform transaction operations, browse the internet, and displaygeospatial data.

Table 1. Comparison between laptop and mobile device

Item Laptop Mobile Device

RAM 2 4 GB 16 384 MB

Hard Disk 100 700 GB 0.5 16 GBProcessor 2000 2700 MHz 400 800 MHz

Screen Size 10" 17" 2" 5"

ScreenResolution 600 x 800 1920 x 1200 240 x 320 352 x 800

User InterfaceMouse standard keyboard camera voice remote control

Small size keyboard pen stylus voice camera -

OperatingSystem

Matured established OS:Microsoft, Apple, Linux

High competing market, changingdynamically main OS:

Symbian OS, Windows mobile, RIMBlackberry, iPhone, Linux, and manyothers

Communication Wire, wireless Wireless only

Power Electricity/Battery Battery onlyMarket Sales(2007)

18 millions unit (PC magazine)120 millions unit (Information Week)(increase 60% than 2006)

GISFunctionalities

Many free and commercial GISsoftware and tools

Available via Web-GIS and limitednumber of GIS softwares with limitedcapabilities

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The main characteristics of GIS mobile device are wireless communication to the internet, GPSequipments, and its hardware. The GIS mobile device has to connect to GIS server where the geoda-tabase that interests the user resides.

3. Current mobile GIS framework

The mobile GIS is used for many purposes. Two major purposes can be identified as geospatial data

entry and GIS operations. The data entry use of mobile GIS allows the GIS user/operator to collectgeospatial data and store it on the mobile device, to be edited/retrieved/analyzed later on the mobiledevice or stored on GIS server.The second major use is the GIS operations, where the GIS user displays the geospatial data on hismobile device then selects a GIS operation to be performed on a set of geospatial data.

The current mobile GIS is practically an enhanced version of Web-GIS, where the GIS users canexplore and process GIS operations through an internet browser or via a special tailored applicationsuch as the famous Google Earth.

As shown in Fig. 1. the current mobile GIS framework is a client/server architecture based on

wireless communication between the mobile device and GIS server where the geospatial database isresident. In this framework, the GIS user displays the geospatial data, commonly in georeferencedraster format with low resolution to be suitable to the limited hardware capabilities of mobile de-vice. The GIS user initiates a GIS operation using the GUI (Graphical User Interface) on the mobile

device and the displayed data. The request is sent to the GIS server via wireless communication, andthen the GIS server provides the required geospatial data and processing power for the request.After the request is processed, the results are sent to the mobile device for display.

3.1 Analysis of current framework

The current framework is characterized by:

The framework is defined as Client/Server architecture.

The full dependence on the wireless communications, once disconnected the mobile GISuser cannot perform GIS analysis.

The wireless communication of the mobile device consumes the battery power and reducesits working time.

Fig. 1. Current Framework for Mobile GIS

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The communication server is exhausted by dedicating the required bandwidth to transmitthe mobile GIS requests in both directions.

All the client requests and server replies can be monitored. The GIS server should supply the required processing power for each GIS request.

The GIS functionalities available for the user are limited and controlled by the server side. The cartographic output is out of control the user of mobile GIS.

The performance of this framework is slow, and depending on many elements and partiessuch as mobile device itself, wireless communication, working environment, and GIS serv-er.

4 Proposed conceptual framework for standalone mobile GIS

The proposed mobile GIS framework is designed to overcome the limitations of the current frame-work, and extend the functionalities of GIS to mobile users even in offline mode when the mobileuser is outside the coverage area or when the GIS server is down.The proposed framework is based on sending the part of interest from the geodatabase to the mobiledevice where it will be stored, and then the second thing is to build GIS applications for mobile

device to access the local stored partial geodatabase in the hard disk of mobile device.As shown in Fig. 2., the proposed mobile GIS framework is designed to extract the part of inter-

est from the geodatabase and send it to the mobile device to be stored on its local hard disk, the part

is extracted from geodatabase (1), then sent to internet server (2), then moved to communicationserver (3), then finally stored on the hard disk of mobile device (4). The mobile device will havemobile GIS application to perform GIS operations on the part of geodatabase resident on mobiledevice.

4.1 Advantages of proposed mobile GIS framework

The proposed conceptual framework for mobile GIS has several advantages, first it allows the Mo-

bile GIS user to work in offline mode, which impacts on reducing the bandwidth load on the com-

Fig. 2. Proposed Framework for Standalone Mobile GIS

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munication network and decreases the operation cost. Secondly, the performance of the GIS opera-tion will increase, due to its dependence on RAM-Processor-Hard Disk only rather than dependingon the performance of both the communication and GIS servers in the current framework. Thirdly,the GIS user can perform the required analysis, edit the geospatial data, and runs the required tai-

lored GIS applications according to his needs more precisely than the limited GIS functionalitiesenabled from GIS server to the mobile client. The security of the mobile GIS user is achieved in the

proposed framework, since only the transmission of data from server to client can be monitored notthe requests nor the results of mobile GIS operations.

It is evident that the proposed framework will provide for mobile GIS users in case of emergen-cy and loss of wireless communications with servers a valuable tool for navigation and decisionsupport, especially if it is equipped with GPS receiver.

4.2 Requirements for Proposed Framework

Re-engineer GIS applications to accommodate the limited hardware capabilities of mobiledevice such as limited RAM, small processor and limited hard disk space. Mobile GIS ap-

plications should perform the same functionalities of traditional GIS applications but basedon the limited hardware resources of the mobile device.

Implement mobile cartographic methodology to display geospatial data on the small sizescreen of mobile device with its limited resolution.

Dense and compact geospatial data models to reduce its storage size on the mobile deviceand increase processing performance. Interoperability for geospatial data between GIS server and mobile device.

Sophisticated update techniques and versioning capabilities for main geodatabase on GISserver due to receiving several versions of the same data from several mobile GIS users.

Standards to enable the re-use of data and applications for the immense and heterogeneousbase of mobile device users.

The possible GIS functionalities for mobile device are summarized in table 2.

Table 2. Possible GIS functionalities for mobile device

GIS Functions Description

Geospatial

data collection

Bottom-up geospatial data collection including multimedia and position can be

performed using mobile devices with GIS functionalities for geospatial dataediting and update

Indoornavigation

Navigation in large buildings such as universities campus, malls, airports,railway stations is a challenge, where spatio-temporal actions are critical, and

GNSS signals are not available

Pedestriannavigation

Pedestrian navigation is different than vehicle navigation, and it has its owncharacteristics and algorithms

Bicyclenavigation

Bicycle navigation is different than vehicle navigation, and it has its owncriteria and routes

Mobiletracking

Tracking people is important in mobile and real time operation, for examplechildren in a trip or tourists in foreign place

Car navigation Car navigation is related to online traffic data, which changes the chosen routeand requires online update for the new path

Emergency Emergency cases where servers are not available and fast decisions based onspatial data are necessary

Trip planning Planning of trips or change of plans is a decision based on geospatial data andneeds special GIS functionalities

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5 Conclusion

The proposed conceptual framework for standalone mobile GIS is conforming to the future visionof the convergence between mobile devices and notebooks, and establishes a basis for the futureimplementation of GIS with a wide range of users equipped with mobile device enhanced with a

GPS-receiver. The GIS applications based on immense amount of hardware resources is not appli-cable to the proposed framework. A new design of GIS applications for mobile devices is required

to perform selected GIS functionalities using limited hardware resources and reduce size of geoda-tabase. Also, the mobile geospatial data model needs to be compacted for reducing the requiredbandwidth while data transmission and to accommodate the limited hard disk space on the mobiledevice.

References

Li L, Li C, Lin Z(2002): Investigation on the Concept Model of Mobile GIS. Symposium on Geospatial Theory, Processing

and Applications, Ottawa.Karimi H A, Hammad A (2004): Telegeoinformatics: Location-Based Computing and Services, Chapter 10, Taylor &

Francis CRC Press, Florida, USA.Fangxiong W, Zhiyong J (2004): Research on a Distributed Architecture of Mobile GIS based on WAP, XXth ISPRS

Congress, Istanbul, TurkeyBerners-Lee T(2007): The Mobile Web, Mobile Internet World conference, Boston.