Developing Android Mobile Map Application with standard navigation tools for pedestrians

Abstract

Advanced features of modern mobile devices have made it possible to develop and use maps and map based applications for navigation purposes. Since most mobile map applications nowadays are developed for motor vehicles, there is a demand for portable pedestrian navigation applications. In this thesis the Android mobile map application with standard navigation tools for pedestrian navigation was developed, as a platform for facilitating the Lund Challenge location based demonstrator of the HaptiMap project.

The pivotal aim of the Lund Challenge demonstrator is to make the sights of Lund city more accessible. The mobile phone application is being designed as a touristic, historical location based game which will also assist tourists to navigate themselves in the city. To enable exploration of historical and current sites of Lund the demonstrator should contain basic components of exploring and way finding.

Prior to the development the OpenStreetMap (OSM) road network data and Swedish National Road Database (NVDB) were introduced. The main advantage of using the OSM data over the NVDB dataset is the completeness of the OSM data in terms of pedestrian paths. The datasets were imported to PostgreSQL spatially extended PostGIS database, where different routing algorithms provided by pgRouting were used for routing calculations.

As the Lund Challenge demonstrator is intended not only for general users but also for visually impaired users, the problem of user navigation in the parks and open areas were also discussed and the feasibility study was performed. The limitation of the developed application was the problem of the user navigation in the parks and open areas. It is therefore necessary to upgrade the road database with possible path in the open areas and parks in order to implement this application.

Popular Abstract

Advanced features of modern devices have made it possible to develop and use maps and map-based applications for navigation purposes. Since most mobile map applications are currently developed for motor vehicles, there is a demand for portable pedestrian navigation applications. In this thesis, a mobile map application was developed with standard navigation tools for pedestrians, which can be used with mobile phones running Android Operating System. The application will be used as a platform for facilitating the Lund Challenge location based demonstrator. Lund Challenge location based demonstrator is designed to make historical and actual maps of Lund more accessible and is a part of the HaptiMap project. This project aims to create maps and develop location-based services for all users, including elderly and visually impaired.
The goal of the Lund Challenge location based demonstrator (also known as The Lund Time Machine) is to minimize the efforts of pedestrians, especially tourists, with finding interesting sites around the city. Initially, it is being designed as a historical location based game which will assist tourists to navigate themselves around the city. In order to further explore historical and current sites, the Lund Challenge should be enhanced with the basic features of exploration and navigation included in this thesis.
The road network data was chosen from two available sources: 1) data from OpenStreetMap (OSM) project which provides free geographic data, and 2) The Swedish National Road Database (NVDB) authorized by the Swedish government, which includes all Swedish road network and selected cycle paths. For this thesis, analysis was performed on the datasets using different shortest path algorithms for routing calculations. A primary advantage of using OSM over NVDB is the completeness of data relating to pedestrian paths. As a result, the determination was made that the OSM option was more appropriate for the purpose of this thesis.
Since the Lund Challenge location based demonstrator is intended for both general and visually impaired users, the problem of user navigation in parks and open areas was also discussed and a feasibility study was performed. This study revealed a limitation in the application with user navigation in parks and open areas. To resolve this, it is necessary to upgrade the road network with all possible pedestrian paths for parks and open areas.

• author: Mikayelyan, Eduard
• supervisor: Lars Harrie
• organization: Dept of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science
• course: NGEM01 20102
• year: 2011
• type: H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
• subject: Earth and Environmental Sciences
• keywords: Geographic Information System, GIS, pedestrian navigation: Android, HaptiMap, Lund Challenge, OpenStreetMap, OSM, Swedish National Road Database, NVDB, PostGIS, Navigation in parks and open areas, geomatics
• publication/series: Student thesis series INES
• report number: 224
• language: English
• id: 4685977
• date added to LUP: 2014-09-25 15:53:42
• date last changed: 2014-09-25 15:53:42