Extensible interfaces for mobile devices in an advanced platform for infomobility services

Abstract

Satellite position based applications, location based information services and communication infrastructures, integrated in Infomobility systems, have had a great influence on the development of new applications in various fields. INStANT, "INfomobility Services for SafeTy-critical Application on Land and Sea based on the use of iNtegrated GNSS Terminals for needs of OLYMPIC cities", is a Pilot Project co-funded by European Commission and GALILEO Joint Undertaking; it aims to provide a scalable and dynamic re-configurable system for Infomobility services. The main innovations of the project are the design of an info-mobile architecture that allows scalability and dynamic mode of operations to achive robustness, service continuity and usability in specific contexts (e.g. Emergency Services). A demanding task of the project was the design of an innovative platform for the user terminal, based on the integration of advanced software components capable of geo-positioning, mobile communications, visualization and mapping.Modeling dynamic user interfaces, based on prescriptions written in XUL - "XML-based User Interface Language", is the target of our study. The resulting solution, capable to run on mobile devices such as Pocket and Tablet PCs, shows features like flexibility, dynamic response to context and processes, usability and on-demand features.