| Περίληψη: | This thesis deals with the problem of interaction with context-aware mobile applications in digitally augmented physical spaces. The term "mobile application" is used as an umbrella term for any piece of software that can run on a mobile device in order to support a human task. “Context-aware” refers to the ability of such applications to use information about the environment or the user to adapt their behaviour accordingly. A "physical hyperlink" is a mechanism that associates a physical object or point in space with digital information/service(s). The term “digitally augmented physical space” refers here to a physical space where digital information relevant to points or artefacts can be accessed (e.g. by means of physical hyperlinks).
In the last two decades mobile devices and applications have developed tremendously. With them, on one hand new ways appeared to support human tasks and on the other hand new research challenges emerged. A key factor is the continuous change of environment and context of use. This is very different to a classic desktop computer application, in which the external environment is hardly changing, as the user and the computer do not change location during interaction. In the world of mobile computing the environment and the context of use are changing, at a faster rate.
One of the most widely spread mobile devices, the mobile phone, evolved into a powerful mobile computing device. These advanced devices are now ubiquitously spread and already billions of people carry and use them daily. New services and uses are emerging with every step of evolution of this technology. However these rapidly emerging and evolving technologies and services result in a generally heterogeneous environment that affects user experience.
The advances in mobile technology permitted devices to be equipped with sensors and hardware that allow on one hand the acquisition of information from the environment and on the other hand interaction with objects like physical hyperlinks, that permit direct access to information related to physical artefacts.
In the frame of this thesis a conceptual framework (MobiAct framework) and a service oriented architecture (MobiAct architecture) have been defined.
The MobiAct framework deals with the interaction with context-aware mobile applications in a digitally augmented physical space. The MobiAct framework has as a goal to identify the main concepts that come into play while interacting with context-aware applications in digitally augmented physical spaces.
MobiAct architecture is an innovative solution for delivering context-aware mobile services in digitally augmented physical spaces. The MobiAct architecture has MobiAct framework as the underlying base. The architecture aims at enabling a uniform and consistent user experience across spaces and contexts and at facilitating the design and development of context-aware mobile services by providing ready functionality for common tasks.
Finally a set of software architectural patterns relevant to designing mobile context-aware applications have been identified. These patterns provide a set of building blocks to facilitate the design and development of similar systems.
The road towards designing MobiAct conceptual architecture and framework for interacting with context-aware mobile applications included the development and evaluation of several prototypes mainly targeted at public and semi-public environments. These prototypes contributed in a great degree towards exploring and studying context-aware mobile applications and interaction with digitally augmented physical spaces using physical hyperlinks and subsequently defining the requirements for the architecture. To avoid binding the architecture to capabilities of a certain platform, the prototypes involved different devices and platforms. The prototypes and applications developed included educational games and a guide for a museum, an application to support users of a library and a shopping assistant aimed at a supermarket environment. The findings of these efforts contributed in the definition of the MobiAct architecture that has been evaluated through a software architecture analysis method based on scenarios and discussions involving representative stakeholders as well as an evaluation team
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