Context-Aware Mobile GIS for Updating and Acquisition of Data Use Case: Urban Property Survey

Field based and GPS assisted GIS are frequently used in various geosciences applications. Such systems deliver more advanced, time and cost effective tools than traditional methods for information collection. With the development of Web GIS and subsequent emergence of mobile GIS, new possibilities of data acquisition and maintenance of geospatial information have been evolved. One of such geospatial information that can benefit from this is urban property information. In mobile GIS data handling, the main issues to be addressed are efficient handling of limited memory and processing power, appropriate management and presentation of information on highly restricted devices and design of appropriate user interfaces. User interface design is rarely discussed in research, however, can significantly impact usability of the system. Communication of data and commands between a user and an application is explicit in most traditional user interface designs. This has the effect that information concerning environment of the user mostly remains unused or has to be formalized by the user. In the mobile environment the goal is to reduce workload for the user and automate the process of application adaptation as much as possible to the operating environment conditions. This paper outlines the role of mobile GIS in urban property survey and presents basic categorization of context, data structures and algorithms developed for the automated context management, interpretation and usage in an application based on mobile GIS framework for urban property survey. The initial step for the development of GIS database usually involves documenting spatial data records into the system. Acquisition and documenting property information using a paper based process cannot provide the access to and verification of real time information. The recent developments in mobile GIS have benefited many fields based on the information gathered more accurately with higher efficiency. With mobile GIS at the site of each asset, user is able to add information about its apparent conditions and attributes and to use a positioning device to mark its exact location. This paper aimed at development of a context-aware mobile GIS suitable for gathering and revising urban property survey databases for municipalities. A client-server architecture, user interfaces as well as reference data request were developed and implemented as the final physical prototype tailored for urban property data collection and maintenance. In the implementation phase, user interfaces were developed in ASP.Net 2005. The interfaces were structured to facilitate updating of property maps and collection of attribute urban property data and transfer (insert and update) into a SQL Server 2005 database on GISserver. Some of the advantages of using this system are realtime edit and automatic parcel location identification performed during data acquisition in urban environment that will ensure a faster and more reliable approach for urban property survey. * Corresponding author: Zeinab Fazli, MSc student, GIS Division, Department of Surveying and Geomatic Eng., College of Eng., University of Tehran, North Kargar Street, Jalale-Ale-ahmad Cross, Tehran, Iran. Phone: +989123847219 Fax:+982122869322