Location Based Services

location based services

Location-based services (LBS) are applications that leverage the user's physical location to provide an enhanced service or experience. Location awareness can be used, for example, for navigation and mapping, workforce tracking, finding points of interest, and getting weather information. It presents a compelling new business opportunity for application developers, operators, and content producers. Location awareness differentiates mobile applications from traditional PC and wired Internet services.
The S60 platform offers developers easy-to-use APIs and ready-made user interface components to make mobile applications location-aware. Additionally, starting with S60 3rd Edition, the Location Acquisition API is also supported via JSR-179, the Location API for the Java™ 2 Platform, Micro Edition (J2ME&trade).
To learn more how you can capitalize on location-aware applications, please take a look at our LBS White Paper.
The following table provides you an overview of the availability of LBS features in different platforms and devices.
Platform
LBS Features
Featured Devices
S60 2nd Edition, Feature Pack 1
Support for MT-LR Privacy
Nokia 7610
Nokia 6670
Nokia 3230
Nokia 6260
S60 2nd Edition, Feature Pack 2
Support for MT-LR Privacy, Location Acquisition API
Nokia 6630
Nokia 6680
Nokia 6681
Nokia 6682
S60 2nd Edition, Feature Pack 3
Same as in FP2
Nokia N70
Nokia N90
S60 3rd Edition
Same as in S60 2nd Edition, FP2 and
Location Acquisition API (updated), Landmarks API, Landmarks Search API, Landmark Database Management API , Landmarks UI Add/Edit API, Landmarks UI Selector API, Satellite Info API ,
JSR-179
Nokia 3250
Nokia E60
Nokia E61
Nokia E70
Nokia N71
Nokia N80
Nokia N91
Nokia N92
Java™ 2 Platform, Micro Edition (J2ME™) .

Java Location API (JSR-179)
Nokia 6265
Nokia 6265i
Nokia 6165
Nokia 3250
Nokia E60
Nokia E61
Nokia E70
Nokia N71
Nokia N80
Nokia N91
Nokia N92
Series 80 2nd Edition
Location Acquisition API
Nokia 9300
Nokia 9300i
Nokia 9500
Other
Support for MT-LR Privacy
Location Acquisition API, Landmarks API, Landmarks Search API
Nokia 7710
Supported location technologies
Technology
Devices
Bluetooth GPS (external)
Nokia 6265
Nokia 6265i

Nokia 7610
Nokia 6670
Nokia 3230
Nokia 6260
Nokia 6630
Nokia 6680
Nokia 6681
Nokia 6682
Nokia N70
Nokia N90
Nokia N92
Nokia 3250
Nokia E60
Nokia E61
Nokia E70
Nokia N71
Nokia N80
Nokia N91
Nokia 9300
Nokia 9500
Nokia 7710
Network-based positioning
Nokia 3250
Nokia E60
Nokia E61
Nokia E70
Nokia 7710
What's New in S60 3rd Edition - the Landmark APIs
A landmark is a representation of a geographical location and thus landmarks, or Points-Of-Interests (POIs) as they are also known, are an integral part of almost any location-aware application. The new landmark functionality in S60 3rd Edition enables applications that allow end users to create landmarks for their favorite places, send landmarks to their friends, navigate to a landmark, and of course to manage their collection of landmarks.
S60 3rd Edition includes a dedicated application for the centralized management of user landmarks. Thus it is not necessary for the application developers to put their effort in constructing such a system. Instead, developers are free to concentrate on how they would like to use landmarks in their own applications.
As you can observe from the preliminary screenshots, the user can access landmarks either directly or hierarchicly via categories.
To learn how to take advantage of landmarks in your application, please have a look at the Landmarks API, the Landmarks Search API, the Landmarks Database Management API, and the related example application source code. JSR-179 can be used to access landmarks from Java MIDlets.
See also the Landmarks Exchange Format Specification for details about how the landmarks can be represented in XML format and as such exchanged between mobile devices (through local connectivity) or between content providers and their mobile users (for example, through Web sites).
What's New in S60 3rd Edition - the Landmarks UI Add/Edit Component API
If your application creates new landmarks, it is likely that your application will need to prompt the end user for some additional information about the landmark, for example, how he or she would like to name or categorize the landmark. This usage scenario is likely to be so common that we included a ready-made UI component in S60 3rd Edition to do just that. The component also does the coordinate acquisition via the Location API.
You can also use the component in view only mode if you wish to show the details of a certain landmark to the end user and want to avoid the possibility of the end user modifying the landmark in any way. To learn more about this ready-made UI component, please have a look at the Landmarks UI Add/Edit API and the source code of the related example application in the S60 3rd Edition SDK.
What's New in S60 3rd Edition - the Landmarks UI Selector Component API
Many times your application will need the end user to indicate one or more landmarks for you, for example, for your application to show the indicated landmark(s) on a map or provide navigation guidance to them. To help you with that, S60 3rd Edition includes a ready-made UI component that you can use to prompt the end user for one or more landmarks or for one or more landmark categories.
Simply launch the UI component and you will get the landmarks or categories selected by the end user as return values. The UI component takes care of all the required end-user interaction. For more details, please see the Landmarks UI Selector API and the source code of the related example application.
What's New in S60 3rd Edition - the GPS Satellite View
Every decent location-aware application has a GPS satellite view, right? Now wouldn't it be a drag if every developer would need to make their own satellite view? And wouldn't it be a pain for end users to try to cope with different-looking views that are supposed to depict the same thing, the availability of the GPS satellites?
To answer these questions, S60 3rd Edition offers developers a ready-made UI component that applications can use to display GPS satellite availability in a clear and coherent way. To learn how easy it is to embed the satellite view into your application, please have a look at the Satellite Info API and the source code of the related example application.
Make Your Application Location-Aware - Now and with Ease
The Location Acquisition API 2nd 3rd enables native Symbian OS applications to determine the current location of the handset. This API provides easy access for determining a user's current location, independent of the positioning technology being used. This means that applications can utilize all available positioning technologies, such as Bluetooth Global Positioning System (GPS) accessories and network-based positioning, via a single API.
To make your mobile application location-aware, more information is available in the Location Acquisition API and the source code of the related example applications.
Testing Made Easy
Developing location-aware software can be tedious if you need to transfer your application to a mobile device and start walking or driving around to test the effects of your latest changes. To overcome this problem, the S60 platform allows you to create a text file from which the positioning system will fetch coordinates, thus simulating the device moving along the given path.
First prepare a simulation data file. For details, please take a look at the Simulation PSY User Guide.
Then tell the positioning system the location of your simulation data file. In S60 releases prior to 3rd Edition, this happens with a separate SimPsyConfigurator application that is available in the application grid.
Starting from S60 3rd Edition, you can set the simulation data file from the settings of the Simulation positioning method.
Also make sure that the Simulation positioning method is the selected positioning method when testing. You can check and alter this setting using the Location Settings application.
For more information, please have a look at the Simulation PSY Configurator User Guide and the Simulation PSY User Guide.
Handset Support for Network-Resident LBS
Starting from S60 2nd Edition, Feature Pack 1, MT-LR Privacy messages from network-resident LBS applications are supported. MT-LR is an acronym for Mobile Terminated Location Request and is also known as LCS Location Notification. These messages let the device owner decide if a network-resident LBS application, such as a weather service, may use the device’s location to provide the service requested by the device owner. For more information on the role of LCS Location Notification in Location Services, please refer to 3GPP TS 23.271 (or 03.71). For signalling protocol level information of LCS-LocationNotification, please refer to 3GPP TS 24.030 (or 04.30)."
Tools
Series 60 Platform SDK's for Symbian OS, for C++Series 60 Platform SDK for Symbian OS, for C++ allows C++ developers to quickly and efficiently run and test applications for devices that are compatible with the Series 60 Platform.
Series 80 Platform SDK's for Symbian OS, for JavaThe Personal Profile SDK is the kit for developers creating Java™ Personal Profile applications for Nokia platform devices. The product consists of a phone emulator, application programming interfaces (APIs), documentation, and examples.Series 80 Platform 2.0 SDK for Symbian OS, for MIDP enables Java™ 2 Platform, Micro Edition (J2ME™) application development for devices based on Series 80 Platform 2.0, and is compatible with the Nokia 9300 smartphone and Nokia 9500 Communicator.
Nokia Prototype SDK 2.0 for Java™ 2 Platform, Micro EditionNokia Prototype SDK 2.0 for J2ME™ enables developers to quickly and efficiently run and test applications for devices compatible with the Series 40 Platform, the Series 60 Platform, and the Series 80 Platform, as well as for the Nokia 7710 widescreen smartphone, before the final SDKs become available.
Nokia Mobile Server Services SDK 1.5This SDK provides an end-to-end application development and testing environment for developers creating and designing Java™ applications that use SMS and MMS messaging, location, and Presence services.
Documents
Capitalizing On The Location-Based Services OpportunityThis white paper presents an overview of how Nokia platforms and tools are opening the LBS opportunity for developers.
JSR-179 Location API for J2ME™ Specification This is the Final Release version of the Location API for J2ME™ specification (JSR-179) developed under the Java Community Process.