Smart Earth: Networked Information Management in a Wireless World

Summary form only given. We introduce a model for information management in a world where information from the physical environment is gathered through a ubiquitous wireless networks. Thus the Internet information space and the physical environment become increasingly entangled in a tightly connected system, that we call a Smart Earth. We illustrate technical challenges and applications from the work of the Swiss National Competence Centre of Research in Mobile Information and Communication Systems (NCCR-MICS). We identify the three layers of data access networks, semantic overlay networks and social networks as essential building blocks for networked information management and observe that each of these network layers will be largely self-organized. Finally we argue that understanding the interplay among these self-organizing network layers will be an important research challenge for the future.