Location Awareness in Mobile Commerce - Assignment Example

A Study on Location Awareness in Mobile Commerce Name Date Introduction From time immemorial, technologies are what have shaped human life but some come with different complexities and benefits. Scientists, researchers and innovators have developed technologies that suites the requirements of humans and most of these technologies are employed mostly in the business environment. One such technology that is based on location sensing is the Geographic Positioning System (GPS). GPS provides a group of coordinates that represents location in terms of longitude, latitude and elevation of the planet Earth. Some of the applications that employ the use of GPS are surveying, tracking devices, navigation systems and mapping. Nevertheless, the GPS does not offer any functionality beyond receiving satellite communication and calculating the position of the information. GPS is based on context and location awareness strategies that help in determining location of objects. Thus, the aim of this paper is to expound on context and location awareness bringing into consideration means of determining location, potential of this technology in computing applications, risks and drawbacks, privacy issues that should be factored and analysing some applications that employ context awareness. Context and Location Awareness Context awareness is likened to pervasive computing/ ubiquitous computing, which tries linking changes in the environment with computer systems or other static objects that are important in localising of an object. Some major fundamentals associated with context aware system are acquiring context, understanding and abstracting context and employing application behaviour in fulfilling recognised context. On the other hand, location awareness is a technology that delivers information concerning a device’s physical location relative another application or user. This term is usually employed in the mobile communication devices and cameras, and at other times, it is used to keep track of website so as to deliver customised information. Generally, context and local awareness systems are used to determine location or position relative to some given points (Higtower et al 2007). Location Determination The approach that the location sensing devices use is easy to appreciate; this is because it produces similar results to traditional approaches such as “triangulation” although technologies such as GPS do not use angles. However, GPS and other locating sensing devices employ the use of satellites in determining position of an object. In determination of location, there are usually three segments that play a major role, which are space, user and control segments. The control segment uplinks data; this data may include satellite ephemeris position constants, atmospheric, clock correction factors and almanac. The space segment analyses these information and the user downloads data from the space segment in terms of coded ranging signals, atmospheric, position information and almanac (Zheng and Ni, 2006). This is because in the presence of two satellites. One satellite picks position of an object and the other satellite also picks the same location, it is then understood that the object or person is located where the two spheres intersect. With the help of technologies supported by these systems e.g. GPS receivers, mathematical methods are used to pinpoint the actual position of an object. In the case of triangulation, location can be determined using radio transmitter by measuring either the direction or radial distance of the signal that is received from two or three angles (Sobh et al 2007). Potential in Computing Applications Location awareness can be viewed from different angles and it plays a major role in the computing industry. The use of location awareness has enabled the tracking of user’s physical location resulting in providing targeted information such as local business information or local search results. In most instances, location of a device can be determined through three methods, that is, cellular tower triangulation, GPS satellite tracking or/ and Wi-Fi networks that employ comparison of nearby MAC addresses. In computing, location awareness is an increasing trend in the software and hardware sector. Some of commons applications that location awareness can utilise in the computing sector are as a component of games that are held by hand systems, as digital camera add-ons e.g. Sony’s GPS-CS1, in photo sharing websites e.g. locating place that Picassa picture was taken on a map. Moreover, other applications include using in memory cards that automatically tag the location that a picture was taken, in social networking services, in phones through delivering specific information and advertisements, and in the motor industry using GPS – for navigation purposes. Risks and Drawbacks of the Technology Like any other technology, location awareness simplifies interaction with mobile devices and thus minimises inconvenience for users who access services with such devices resulting in increase of user friendliness. This means that it enhances enterprise business processes, mobile applications’ performance and other benefits that users can adopt. However, even though it provides numerous benefits, there are also some drawbacks that prevent its successful embracement include (Zheng and Ni, 2006): Frequent interference with the satellite signals either intentionally or accidentally e.g. at the airports. The environment may be difficult e.g., railway tunnels and underground car parks. Unintentionally or intentionally uploading incorrect orbit predictions may make the satellites unusable This technology may be abused by security organisations e.g. internal security and/ or criminals Privacy Issues to be Addressed The use of location-based services is growing and in the near future, most people who utilise phones will employ this technology. Security issues are common with individuals using computing devices and sometimes have difficulty managing their privacy online. Presence of location aware technologies that embeds both the devices and environments results in revealing personal information, context and location information. These complex privacy issues and means of attempting to manage them have implications for the security and privacy of persons, systems and places. Numerous researches and approaches have focused on privacy policy management and focuses on systems (Sobh et al 2007). However, of late, privacy and security in the development of new technologies has not been factored resulting in compromising the privacy and security of those people who utilise these technologies. Generally, there are numerous security and privacy issues that are associated with the new technologies especially location-based services because the environment and content of an individual can be known. Thus, it is important to develop means that restricts individual information resulting in providing of privacy and security measures. Applications that can Employ Context Awareness The development of any technology is based on its impact to the community and business world. This means each development or innovation is supposed to have an application and in the case of context awareness, some of its applications are: Proximate selection – this is a user interface technique that is used in location object through emphasising or making them easier to choose. It brings into consideration the ‘selection’ and locus; while other interfaces automatically default the locus to the location of the user. Some of the kinds of located objects that this method employ are computer input and output devices e.g. printers and video cameras, objects that the user interacts with and requires the support of software, and the third kind is the set of places that a user wants to find out e.g. gas stations (Worboys and Duckham, 2004). Automatic contextual reconfiguration – the term reconfiguration refers to the addition of new components, altering connection between components, or removing existing components. Some common typical connections and components are the servers and their communication channels to the users. Additionally, reconfigurable components may also include program modules, loaded device drivers and hardware elements. However, context aware systems illustrate an interesting aspect in that the context of use might bring about what these adaption are and system configuration (Higtower et al 2007). This means that it provides an opportunity in which people within the same region share the physical objects. Thus, the reconfiguration process plays a major role in business process and helps people easily share physical objects or sometime virtual objects. Contextual Information and Commands – In most instances, individual actions can be predicted through their actions. For example, there are certain things that are done in the office, kitchen and library that will show the position of this situation. Thus, contextual information and commands tries tries to exploit this benefit. For example, queries that are based on contextual information can yield different results depending on the context that they were issued. Moreover, contextual configuration can parameterise ‘contextual commands’, such as the print command in the computer system, by default, may print to the nearest printer. Conclusion Generally, technology is changing at a faster rate and innovations are based on the result object or component that has been developed. For example, the Geographic Positioning System (GPS) and other location sensing devices have played a major role in pointing a given position. Context awareness and location awareness provides a means in which objects or virtual objects can be located in a given environment. Determination of the locations of the devices employs different strategies ranging from Wi-Fi systems, GPS devices and triangulation. However, the most common location determination strategies are the GPS and sometimes the triangulation. However, some of the risks and drawbacks that are associated with this technology are geographical factors, intentional and unintentional interference, privacy and security concerns, and uploading inappropriate orbit dimensions. Moreover, privacy is a major issue that should be addressed but currently there are minimal strategies that can be employed to ensure privacy and security of users and their devices. Context awareness plays a major role in the computing industry and some of its applications are selection proximity, contextual information and commands, and automatic contextual reconfiguration. References Higtower, J., Schiele, B. and Strang, T. (2007). Location and Context Awareness: Third International Symposium, LoCA 2007. London: Springer Publishers. Sobh, T., Elleithy, K., Mahmood, A. and Karim, M. (2007). Innovative Algorithms and Techniques in Automation and Industrial Electronics. London: Springer Publishers. Worboys, M. and Duckham, M. (2004). GIS: A Computing Perspective, 2nd Ed. New York: CRC Press Publishers. Zheng, P. and Ni, L. (2006). Smart Phone and Next Generation Mobile Computing. New York: Morgan Kaufmann Publishers. Read More