Title: Semantically enriched navigation for indoor environments

Authors: Vassileios Tsetsos, Christos Anagnostopoulos, Panayotis Kikiras, Stathes Hadjiefthymiades

Addresses: Pervasive Computing Research Group, Communication Networks Laboratory, Department of Informatics and Telecommunications, University of Athens, Panepistimiopolis, Ilissia, Athens, 15784, Greece. ' Pervasive Computing Research Group, Communication Networks Laboratory, Department of Informatics and Telecommunications, University of Athens, Panepistimiopolis, Ilissia, Athens, 15784, Greece. ' Department of Computer and Communications Engineering, University of Thessaly, Argonafton & Filellinon, Volos, 38221, Greece. ' Pervasive Computing Research Group, Communication Networks Laboratory, Department of Informatics and Telecommunications, University of Athens, Panepistimiopolis, Ilissia, Athens, 15784, Greece

Abstract: Location-based mobile services have been in use, and studied, for a long time. With the proliferation of wireless networking technologies, users are mostly interested in advanced services that render the surrounding environment (i.e., the building) highly intelligent and significantly facilitate their activities. In this paper our focus is on indoor navigation, one of the most important location services. Existing approaches for indoor navigation are driven by geometric information and neglect important aspects, such as the semantics of space and user capabilities and context. The derived applications are not intelligent enough to catalytically contribute to the pervasive computing vision. In this paper, a novel navigation mechanism is introduced. Such navigation scheme is enriched with user profiles and the adoption of an ontological framework. These enhancements introduce a series of technical challenges that are extensively discussed throughout the paper.

Keywords: indoor navigation; semantic web; ontology; user models; universal access; path selection; shortest paths; semantics; mobile services; location services; web services; pervasive computing; ubiquitous computing.

DOI: 10.1504/IJWGS.2006.011714

International Journal of Web and Grid Services, 2006 Vol.2 No.4, pp.453 - 478

Published online: 16 Dec 2006 *

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