Research on Mobile Location Service Design Based on Android

Android platform is a new generation of smart mobile phone platform launched by Google. Android provides the support of mobile map and location service, which is probably a concern of vast numbers of developers. So far, the development of mobile map and location applications is complex and difficult, and is often required to pay high copyright fees to map makers. Android is free and open, providing an easy-to-use development kit containing flexible map display and control functions. This paper introduces the architecture and component models of Android, and analyzes the anatomy of an Android application including the functions of Activity, Intent Receiver, Service, Content Provider, and etc. Based on Android, the design method of a location-based mobile service is then presented. The design example shows that it's so easy to implement self-location, to draw the driving trace, to perform query and to flexibly control the real-time map on Android.