Ubiquitous spatial-information services using cell phones

Conventional thinking about mobile methods for accessing the Internet is rapidly changing. The processing power of cell phones is steadily improving, and the wireless network´s communication speed is increasing. Once these changes are in place, most mobile applications will give way to a third-generation (3G) cell-phone-based infrastructure. In particular, using 3G cell phones instead of conventional PCs or personal digital assistants (PDAs) will make possible ubiquitous spatial information services. These services let you use a cell phone to easily find nearby hospitals, restaurants, banks, stores, and so on. Moreover, pedestrians will be able to use cell phones to receive navigational guidance services similar to those delivered by vehicle navigation systems. In this article, we introduce real system implementations and field trials to demonstrate the potential of this integrated spatial-information services approach.