Abstract:
Popularity of social networks and ubiquitous use of
hand held devices such as smart phones have brought the usage
of GIS into the next level. With the Geo-Iocation detection
capabilities of hand held devices, users can share their current
location and paths traversed along with useful metadata.
Community GIS is generated at this level where users can
contribute to map data make use of existing geo location
information which others have already added. This has
changed one of the other aspects of GIS which is known as
Traditional GIS, where users have to pay and consume data
available on maps developed by expert organizations. In order
to use and contribute to community GIS a user needs a
smart phone with features such as location detection, camera
and a good display along with an application tailor made for
the purpose. A prominent problem is that a vast majority of
existing applications assume a high-end smartphone with
sophisticated hardware. On the other hand, most users from
developing countries, who represent the bigger fraction of the
smartphone user base, still work with low-end smartphones
that employ low cost alternative hardware and software.
This paper comprehends an attempt to devise an application
model for low-end smart phones so that community GIS
capabilities are disseminated to users with less purchasing
power. First, a survey is carried out to collect data regarding
the smartphone platforms that will potentially dominate the
low-end market. A client-server application model is designed
targeting the identified platforms. We demonstrate a proof-of
concept application for the model.
