Location-based services: architecture overview

Location-Based Services (LBSs) stands for the provision of information about the position of a device or a user, often offered as a service via various means of media. The position can be combined with spatial information so as to integrate an LBS system with Geographical Information Systems (GISs) or other location dependent information. The quality of the services provided by the LBSs depends on the utilized architecture that would support differentiated service levels, each of which guarantees a specific Quality of Service (QoS). The current survey opens up by presenting a review on the various LBS systems and then focuses on their architectures and the different governing platforms and technologies on which they are based. The general concepts of these systems are discussed by presenting a first level of classification which depends on the positioning infrastructure namely, indoor, satellite or network-based configuration. Several specific LBS architectures are categorized by means of the various characteristics regarding the design and functionality of each one. The survey furthermore expands towards the integration of the LBS and the various GISs. In order to increase interoperability among the various systems and technologies, the necessity for standardization and homogenization is also taken under consideration.