Mobile Access to Environmental Information

Abstract

Mobile phones have almost replaced conventional telephones for public use in Western European countries. Modern WAP telephones offer mobile access to the Internet, anytime and anyplace. This technique therefore appears to be very attractive for transferring up-to-date information about the environmental situation to the public, i.e. air and water quality measurements or weather conditions as well as forecasted values of these processes. On this account WAP services complete existing information sources for public use like the Internet, videotext or print media. Location-based services add a new dimension to these services. By automatically detecting the current location of the calling telephone the information offered to the user may thus be focused to this location. Due to the relatively small size of the telephone displays and the low resolution of these devices new concepts for designing such WAP-based environmental information services are essential.