NAMBA: location-aware collaboration system for shopping and meeting

We have developed a location-aware collaboration system called NAMBA. The system exchanges position information and users´ situation to one another using a PDA with built-in PHS and a GPS receiver in real time. NAMBA is a two-way communication system that sends position information and messages to one another. Users can see other users´ position on the screen of a PDA easily using NAMBA. NAMBA has two specially devised functions, a meeting point sharing function and a self-assessment function of a position, for meeting mutually and for exchanging position information. We applied this system to an area of Osaka in Japan. From the result of the experiments, we found that position information and chat messages were important for communication with separated users. NAMBA was effective for meeting other users anywhere.