Mobile Solutions

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Overview

This is not a formal OSGeo project, just a spot for a few OSGeo folks to share some ideas. The idea is to elaborate foundations of design and implementation of Open Source GIS application(s) for mobile devices.

Our main objectives are to discuss:

  • principles of mobile software design
  • high usable User Interface on mobile devices
  • key functions automation
  • usage of latest communication techniques
  • portability

Hardware

TODO: What is the best device for mobile GIS application?

Operating Systems / Platforms

This section is devoted to discuss features as well as pros and cons (+/-) of various mobile operating systems and software platforms.

Here are listed platforms we have discussed, in alphabetical order:

Linux

From OpenEmbedded Overview:

OpenEmbedded is a full-featured development environment allowing users to target a wide variety of devices.(...)OpenEmbedded is a tool which allows developers to create a fully usable Linux base for various embedded systems. It has been designed to be able to handle different hardware architectures, support multiple releases for those architectures, and utilize tools for speeding up the process of recreating the base after changes have been made. Currently it can run on any Linux distribution, and plans are in place to allow it to work under Windows.

Note: Familiar's Linux distribution is entirely based on OpenEmbedded system.

See:

See also:

Pros and Cons
  • -
    • less popular

Palm OS

See:

Pros and Cons
  • +
    • available Open Source tool chain - called
    • available JVM
    • C/C++ programming language
  • -
    • dedicated for a very specific hardware platform designed entirely by Palm Inc.
    • no choice of user environments
    • no multitasking support in versions prior to Palm OS Cobalt, version 6.x
    • proprietary

Symbian OS

See:

Pros and Cons
  • +
    • dedicated to devices with very limited resources
    • good support for popular IDEs on Linux, Mac OS and Windows
    • open in terms of Open Standards
    • very popular on smartphones
    • very well documented APIs
    • very good support for Java
    • wide variety of programming languages: C++, Java, Perl, Python, OPL, Visual Basic
  • -
    • no choice of user environments
    • proprietary

Windows CE

See:

See also:

Pros and Cons
  • +
    • Real-Time Operating System, with full multithreading and multitasking support
    • supports wide range of hardware
    • very popular on PDAs currently on the market / widely used
    • very well supported by Visual Studio 2005
  • -
    • no choice of user environments
    • not compatible with POSIX
    • No good free JVM available, both recommended machines IBM J9 JVM and NSICOM CrEme JVM are commercial
    • proprietary
    • very limited version of C Run-Time library
    • Visual Studio 2005 is expansive / no replacement

Windows XP Embedded

From About Windows XP Embedded:

Windows XP Embedded is a componentized version of Windows XP Professional that contains all of the features, functionality, and familiarity of Windows XP Professional.

See:

Pros and Cons
  • +

TODO

  • -
    • proprietary

Open Source GIS for Mobile Devices

TODO: Details of mobile GIS application design and implementation

Key Features

TODO: List of key features

Brainstorm

TODO: Summary of our discussion on the OSGeo mailing list

Spatial Data Formats

This section discusses data formats considered for local spatial datastore on a mobile device. Proposed formats are listed in alphabetical order.

Spatial Data File (SDF)

From Autodesk's FAQ about the SDF format:

Autodesk’s new spatial data file (SDF) is a powerful single file that provides many of the capabilities of a relational database (RDBMS). Each SDF file can contain multiple geometry types (lines, polygons, and points) as well as feature attributes. A spatial data file enables you to organize and manage your data as GIS features, providing a solid foundation for a smooth transition to an RDBMS in the future if the need arises.

Some additional info on the SDF format available at https://fdo.osgeo.org/nonav/docs/SDF/index.html

TODO: We need more details about SDF format! If you know anything about this format, please share your knowledge here. Thanks!

TODO: Is there any specification available to download?

ESRI Shapefile

ESRI Shapefile is a file-based format, simple and easy to use in mobile application, though it does not support complex data relations natively. Important features of ESRI Shapefile format:

  • availability of portable libraries: Shapelib and OGR, both work on Windows CE and Linux
  • easy to use and create on mobile devices
  • very popular format in GIS world
  • well-documented format

See:

SQLite

From the SQLite website:

SQLite is a small C library that implements a self-contained, embeddable, zero-configuration SQL database engine.

SQLite engine seems to be a good candidate for a local geospatial database managed on a mobile device. SQLite features which are mostly interesting for Open Source GIS system for mobile devices include:

  • easy to use and create on mobile devices
  • highly portable library (works well on Linux PDAs, Windows CE devices)
  • Open Source Software
  • single-file format
  • it's been used in GIS, see SQLite driver for OGR and SQLite driver for GRASS

Existing Projects

Here is the list of various existing Open Source GIS projects for mobile platforms:

  • GRASS Server by Radim Blazek and Luca Nardelli - client-server system providing access to geographic information from different kinds of devices: PCs, PDAs, mobile phones; with speech recognition support.
  • GRASS Server Video by Radim Blazek and Luca Nardelli - Video Demo (AVI File 31MB).
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