Providing Location-Based Services under Web Services Framework

Location-based services (LBSs) provide personalized services to the subscriber based on his or her current position. By combining information on the location of a mobile user, services can be tailored exactly to the user’s situation. These powerful location-based services are the keys to the growth of the mobile Internet in both the consumer and business markets. The geographical location of mobile phones can be used by operators and service providers to create and offer location-based mobile services, which employ accurate, real-time positioning to connect users to nearby points of interest, advise them of current conditions such as traffic and weather, or provide routing and tracking information—all via wireless devices. For subscribers, this means access to attractive, convenient, value-added services that will make their lives easier and more fun, save time, enhance business efficiency, and increase personal safety (Anckar & D’Incau, 2002). To meet the demands of efficient, stable, and scalable architecture and implementation techniques of location-based mobile services, adjusting for various multi-platforms, multiple applications, and sustainable development environment, we propose an architecture of LBS based on Web services technologies—that is, Web service-based LBS (WS-LBS). WS-LBS has multi-layers and consists of a database server, global spatial information servers, local spatial information servers, and mobile clients. Web services technologies are adopted in WS-LBS. UDDI is used to publish global spatial information services, and URL address is used for local spatial information services publishing. At the mobile client site, SOAP client technology is adopted for end users to access remote spatial information services. Two kinds of WS-LBS clients are implemented: J2ME client and WinCE client. A WS-LBS prototype is implemented by Java and c# languages, providing transparent access to distributed spatial information services for various mobile end users.