Application-specific high-level location service

The increasing number of location-based service (LBS) applications raises the need for location services that return location information at a high abstraction level, i.e. they return area names instead of geo-location coordinates. Area names are application-specific because the same geo-location coordinates may be interpreted into different area names by different applications. In this paper, we present an application-specific high-level location service. By high level, we mean that the location information returned by the service is at a high abstraction level, i.e. area names that are human understandable. By application specific, we mean that the location information is meaningful only for a particular application that is registered in the service. The location service is not to identify users' geo-locations as this identification has already been done at a low abstraction level. The location service is to convert location information from a low to a high abstraction level, i.e. from geo-location coordinates to the names of areas in which those coordinates are located. It also provides an interface for application providers to administer the service to be used by their applications. With this interface, the application providers can register their applications, upload maps containing areas of interests, and manage those areas. Examples of the service use show the results as expected. The location service is designed to serve a number of LBS applications. It allows LBS application developers to focus their efforts on providing the application's services.