A Service Layer for Building GSM Positioning Systems in E-Health Domain

Ubiquitous Computing has enabled seamless access to a wide variety of services and Internet-based applications anywhere, anytime, and using any device. These capacities along with the recent advances of wireless communication technologies allowed the development of the so-called location-based systems. However, building these systems can be a complex and expensive task, mainly due to the need to manage and maintain communication among the various entities that make up this type of system (e.g. devices, application servers, spatial databases, terminals, base-stations). In e-Health domain, where time and information accuracy can determine the success or failure of a medical emergency care, the demand for robust and accurate location-based systems has led to the need for new technologies that improve the processing and delivery of location data. Hence, this paper proposes a Service Layer which supports building Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) Positioning Systems. The Service Layer enables interoperability among the different entities through the use of services. These services provide functionalities for position data processing and user interface adaptation for visualization in various mobile devices according to the interaction context. A case study illustrating the use of the Service Layer in an application for tracking ambulances has been conducted in order to investigate the feasibility of the proposal.