2004 IEEE International Conference on Mobile Data Management (MDM'04)
A Rule Engine for Location Based Content Syndication
Berkeley, California
January 19-January 22
ISBN: 0-7695-2070-7
Location-based services (LBS) play an increasing role in mobile systems and applications. In this paper we focus on LBS in a multi-provider framework. Using multiple providers reduces dependencies, increases geographic and functional coverage, and allows distribution, load balancing, and fail-over. However, the framework must ensure substitutability of services. We describe the use of a rule engine to dynamically determine a near-optimal provider for each request. The choice is based on performance, reliability, geographic coverage, as well as more intangible considerations. Overall performance, coverage, and distribution can thus be increased at the framework-level.