The efficient web-based mobile GIS service system through reduction of digital map

Abstract

The existing personal mobile devices such as PDA have a severe limitation on the available memory, small size of screen and low bandwidth while controlling very large-volume Geographical Information Systems (GIS) spatial data. But if the data to be handled can be reduced by using a new adaptable GIS storage format that consists of only the required fields and can be transmitted through Web standard protocol (i.e., HTTP/SOAP), a PDA system can support the efficient mobile GIS service to extended regions. In this paper, we present a new method which reduces map data into a Simple Spatial Format (SSF) using map generation and format conversion algorithms. We also present the implementation of a Web-based GIS system in which PDA-based mobile clients and Web Services servers communicate through HTTP/SOAP protocol to provide Location-based services. The experimental results indicated that our proposed approach drastically reduced the size of map and the time of map loading service. © Springer-Verlag 2004.