Developing Low-Cost Vehicle Location And Web Mapping Using Nextel GPS Cell Phones And Google? Maps
Uma Y. Shama
Research and demonstration projects sponsored by the U.S. Department of Transportation explored low cost and higher reliability alternatives to Global Positioning System (GPS) based Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) systems. As a result, the GeoGraphics Laboratory has developed and tested AVL software for low-cost mobile phones and web mapping which allows for the collection, transmission, storage and mass consumption of location data (web-based mapping). This has lead to research in the following areas: 1) Development of j2me software for military specification Sprint-Nextel? mobile phones to allow the collection of Location data at a refresh rate of 2-5 seconds; 2) Creation of protocols and software on a mobile phone and on a web server for the efficient and timely (within 2 seconds of collection) transmission of location data to a database using, TCP sockets, and lightweight-webservices; 3) Creation of database structures and software development using Google's AJAX mapping tools to display at a glance bus location, bus routes, bus stops and bus stop information, "map within a map" and super high definition photos of the Bus stop; 4) Development of a user interface to allow bus drivers to easily update which vehicle and route they are running, and when they are active.
