Hybrid positioning framework for mobile devices

A variety of technologies has emerged in response to an increasing demand for location aware applications. Nevertheless, single-technology systems have several limitations and vulnerabilities and it seems unlikely that such a system will be able to provide a universal solution. In this paper, we present the Global Positioning Module (GPM), a framework that seamlessly combines a multitude of approaches in order to supply mobile devices with indoor and outdoor positioning. The novelty of our work is the way in which position providers are integrated by using an abstraction derived from their performance properties. This allows for a selection of providers based on their suitability to the surrounding environment and to the user's requirements with regards to accuracy, drift, power consumption and so on. Our aim is to provide a foundation for ubiquitous location based services, namely a transparent transition between the plethora of technologies available today.