Delivery of pedestrian real-time location and routing information to mobile architectural guide

The research presented in this paper focuses on the use of different computing and wireless techniques and technological systems for real-time navigation support and location based information delivery for a pedestrian user interacting with city architectural information system on a digital handheld device while on the move. In this research case, the use of basic GPS receiver, Dijkstra algorithm, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)/Near Field Communication (NFC) systems and 2 Dimensional (2D) barcode technologies was examined and the potential for the use of WiFi and mobile cells is noted. This paper explores the virtue and shortcomings of each in order to determine the best possible integrated solution. The suggested integration will locate the pedestrian user in the virtual city representation on location, informs the user about buildings and other artefacts relating to the site where s/he is currently located and guide the user to a next point of interest efficiently. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.