MANNING Richard Ferraro Murat Aktihanoglu www.it-ebooks.info Location-Aware Applications www.it-ebooks.info www.it-ebooks.info Location-Aware Applications RICHARD FERRARO MURAT AKTIHANOGLU MANNING SHELTER ISLAND www.it-ebooks.info For online information and ordering of this and other Manning books, please visit www.manning.com. The publisher offers discounts on this book when ordered in quantity. For more information, please contact Special Sales Department Manning Publications Co. 20 Baldwin Road PO Box 261 Shelter Island, NY 11964 Email: orders@manning.com ©2011 by Manning Publications Co. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, or otherwise, without prior written permission of the publisher. Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their products are claimed as trademarks. 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Copyeditor: Linda Recktenwald 20 Baldwin Road Proofreader: Katie Tennant PO Box 261 Typesetter: Susan Glinert Stevens Shelter Island, NY 11964 Cover designer: Marija Tudor ISBN 978-1-935182-33-7 Printed in the United States of America 12345678910–MAL – 16 15 14 13 12 11 ∞ www.it-ebooks.info v brief contents PART 1 LBS, THE BIG PICTURE 1 1 ■ Location-based services: an overview 3 2 ■ Positioning technologies 21 3 ■ Mapping 39 4 ■ Content options 67 PART 2 TECHNOLOGY 89 5 ■ Consumer applications 91 6 ■ Mobile platforms 122 7 ■ Connectivity issues 156 8 ■ Server-side integration 165 PART 3 CREATING WINNING LBS BUSINESSES 185 9 ■ Monetization of location-based services 187 10 ■ The privacy debate 214 11 ■ Distributing your application 233 12 ■ Securing your business idea 258 www.it-ebooks.info www.it-ebooks.info vii contents preface xiii acknowledgments xv about this book xvii about the cover illustration xx PART 1 LBS, THE BIG PICTURE 1 1 Location-based services: an overview 3 1.1 What are location-based services? 4 Key components of an LBS 5 1.2 Today’s commercial and consumer LBSs 8 GPS in the transportation industry 8 ■ GPS compared to RFID 9 ■ Emergency response services 10 ■ Service locator applications 10 ■ Social networking applications 10 1.3 Challenges of developing mobile LBSs 12 Cost of access 12 ■ Handset manufacturers and operators 13 ■ Privacy legislation and public perception 14 1.4 Future opportunities of LBS 15 The contextual Holy Grail 16 1.5 Summary 19 www.it-ebooks.info CONTENTS viii 2 Positioning technologies 21 2.1 What are positioning technologies? 22 Cell tower triangulation 23 ■ Satellite navigation GPS 24 ■ Standard GPS 25 ■ Assisted GPS 26 Bluetooth or standalone GPS 28 2.2 Cell ID 29 Cell ID databases 30 2.3 Wireless positioning systems 32 Wi-Fi hotspot detection 33 2.4 New positioning methods 33 Hybrid positioning 34 ■ P-Cell technology 35 IMU technology 36 ■ Push versus pull mechanisms 36 2.5 Summary 38 3 Mapping 39 3.1 Mapping APIs 40 3.2 Comparison of mapping APIs 44 MapQuest 46 ■ Google Maps 47 ■ Bing Maps 48 Yahoo! Maps 49 ■ CloudMade 51 ■ Mapstraction 52 A word on licensing 54 3.3 Map providers 55 NAVTEQ 56 ■ Tele Atlas 57 ■ OpenStreetMap 59 3.4 Browser-based location 60 Fire Eagle 61 ■ Loki 61 ■ Geode 63 ■ Native browser support 64 3.5 Summary 65 4 Content options 67 4.1 Content licenses 68 4.2 Content distribution formats 69 GeoRSS 69 ■ GeoJSON 71 ■ KML 73 4.3 Licensing content from third parties 74 4.4 User-generated content 75 Privacy 76 ■ Quality 77 ■ Copyright issues 77 ■ Implementation and performance 77 4.5 Mashups 77 Consumer mashups 78 ■ Data mashups 79 ■ Business mashups 80 www.it-ebooks.info CONTENTS ix 4.6 Our coding mashup example 81 Using KML 82 ■ Using JavaScript 83 4.7 Summary 87 PART 2 TECHNOLOGY 89 5 Consumer applications 91 5.1 Navigating to a destination 92 GPS assisted navigation on smartphones—Telmap 93 GPS assisted navigation on Nokia handsets—Ovi Maps 93 ■ Creating a navigational widget platform— uLocate 95 ■ Google’s (free) Maps Navigation 97 5.2 Connecting with other people or local places 98 Creating a story through geotagged photos—Whrrl 100 ■ Taking location mainstream—Loopt 101 ■ Going global with LBS— GyPSii 102 ■ Making LBS easy—Sniff 103 ■ Real and virtual worlds through LBS—Friendticker 104 5.3 Entertainment or play 109 Creating adventures through location-aware apps—GPS Mission 110 ■ Location-aware treasure hunting— geocaching 110 ■ Location-based social networking games 112 5.4 New app development frontiers 115 Augmented reality 115 ■ Layar—a pioneer in AR browsing 116 5.5 Summary 120 6 Mobile platforms 122 6.1 Mobile phone trends 124 6.2 How programming and distribution options are evolving 125 6.3 Java ME 126 6.4 Symbian 127 Nokia Ovi Store 129 6.5 iPhone and iPad 130 Restrictions on iOS development tools 133 ■ A simple iPhone app 133 ■ The Apple App Store 139 www.it-ebooks.info [...]... website at www.manning.com /Location- AwareApplications Author Online The purchase of Location- Aware Applications includes free access to a private forum run by Manning Publications where you can make comments about the book, ask technical questions, and receive help from the auth ors and other users You can access and subscribe to the forum at www.manning.com /Location- AwareApplications This page provides... have location on tap When we talk about location- based services, we’re referring to a wide range of applications and web ser vices designed to work effectively on mobile devices by using some form of positioning or location- based technology This chapter aims to introduce you to the fascinating world of location- based services (LBS) and how it’ s fast becoming the most important categor y of mobile applications. .. technology now opens up to developers and businesses www.it-ebooks.info www.it-ebooks.info Location- based services: an overview This chapter covers Elements of a location- based service Using LBS in the commercial and consumer sectors Challenges of developing mobile LBS Future opportunities of LBS Location, location, location! This co mmon answer to the question “what matters most when buying real estate?”... looking for a pharmacy in the middle of the night, the key is always th e same: location The a bility to know where you are and how to get to some place has gone from be ing a desirable add-on to a mobile phone to becoming an everyday necessity This book will explore the exciting world of location- based services and locationaware applications, which were initially promoted by mo bile operators to boost mobile... start-ups and e stablished web playe rs staking their claim in this competitive marketplace Today, we’re seeing a move away from locationbased services as a separate area of mobile, to location being embedded across a lar ge section of mobile applicatio ns Location- aware applications are becoming the norm within the mobile world, particularly where smartphones are concerned A true turning point was... application, currently one of the most downloaded iPad applications in the United States 1 “Tablet Computers,” FT.com Lex, January 26, 2010 www.it-ebooks.info What are location- based services? 7 What makes location ser vices on connected mobile devices exciting is their ability to move beyond displaying static location data By refreshing content used by the location app or service on a more-or-less continuous... the N earBio widget, enabling users to quickly find the closest biodiesel pumps A quick browse on Apple’ s iTunes store of iPhone applications reveals that such practical applications have mushroomed (over one-third of the 150,000+ applications in the store are location aware, with many offering practical info, such as Urbanspoon’s restaurant finder) Both MapQuest Maps and Ovi Maps (formerly Nokia... services?” Why is location so important? Location is a fundamental aspect of the new, exciting world of mobile webenabled services, revolutionizing how we go about our daily lives The usefulness of many of today’s most popular mobile applications and services is determined by one key factor: where you are at the exact moment when you’re using the service 3 www.it-ebooks.info 4 CHAPTER 1 Location- based... 154 ■ ■ 6.14 6.15 7 ■ Testing 154 Summary 155 Connectivity issues 7.1 156 Key success factors in connectivity Smartphones 7.2 158 ■ Feature phones Security of location data Caching location files 159 7.3 154 157 158 159 ■ Server databases Location- aware platform examples 160 160 iPhone and iPad example 160 Android example 161 Java ME example 162 Palm webOS example 163 ■ ■ 7.4 8 Summary 164 Server-side... 1 LBS, the big picture I n this first part of the book, we look at the big picture of location awareness and location- based services (LBSs) From the first chapter, you’ll gain an understanding of what an LBS is and of the different elements that make up a typical service It also widens your view of the range of LBS applications that exist across different industries and the globe Chapter 2 gives you . MANNING Richard Ferraro Murat Aktihanoglu www.it-ebooks.info Location-Aware Applications www.it-ebooks.info www.it-ebooks.info Location-Aware Applications RICHARD FERRARO MURAT AKTIHANOGLU MANNING SHELTER. downloaded from the publisher’s web- site at www.manning.com/Location-AwareApplications. Author Online The purchase of Location-Aware Applications includes free access to a private forum run by. LBS—Friendticker 104 5.3 Entertainment or play 109 Creating adventures through location-aware apps—GPS Mission 110 ■ Location-aware treasure hunting— geocaching 110 ■ Location-based social networking