Though the above scenario sounds futuristic we have developed a system that has the described capabilities. The iPointer® is a mobile search and content delivery platform with the iPointer client running on a cell phone with LBS capability. A user can simply point at a building, land-mark, or other point-of-interest and receive on-demand information such as photographs, promo-tions and audio descriptions.

The iPointer® client runs on both Java and Windows Mobile based cell phones, with either an integrated GPS and digital Compass or GPS-enabled cell phone plus a Bluetooth digital compass accessory (Figure 5). As users point their cell phone at an object of interest, their coordinates and angle are sent to a database which selects the most likely object that they pointed at and then streams multimedia information including advertising content about the object back to the users (Figure 6).

iPointer® has been deployed at the University of Maine. Studies showed that users could easily relate between their position on the map and in the real world. The automated selection gave feedback of the objects the user pointed towards.

Fig. 5:    A prototype of a sensor-based mobile marketing client; Cell phone running iPointer® software, GPS receiver, Digital magnetic compass, and wireless data con-nection.

Fig. 6:    An overview of the iPointer platform.

One of the most important aspects of the iPointer platform is the Content Manager (Figure 7), which allows developers to store and manage the Geographic Information System (GIS) data and multi-media content in the iPointer Server. Developers can then link text, audio, and image data to specific geospatial locations. Multiple audio and image files can be linked to a single location. A single location can be further broken down into sub-features (e.g., multiple shops in a single building). Content can also be categorized by themes (e.g., historic, architecture, shopping, etc.) that allow iPointer applications to tailor search results by theme.

Multi-media content can be stored locally in the iPointer server or it can be accessed dynamically using links defined in the Content Aggregator. The Content Manager also provides developers tools for packaging and downloading to the handset. This is particularly useful when bandwidth constraints require content to be cached as close to the end-user as possible to ensure fast re-sponse time.

The Content Aggregator lets developers configure access to data stored in external databases and Web services. This is very useful for aggregating data from premium content databases, such as white/yellow pages, event calendars, or any other data source that is searchable by postal address or location. The iPointer’s geospatial selection algorithms use these data aggregation links along with the geo-code of the identified spatial object to search for related content from external data sources.

Fig. 7:    iPointer platform architecture diagram.