Terminal-based Mobile Positioning overview

TERMINAL-BASED MOBILE POSITIONING FOR DEVELOPERS Jaak Laineste

Automatic mobile positioning methods • Mobile operator dependent Mobile Positioning (Cell-ID; A-GPS) Passive location data • Terminal-based, operator independent Special GPS devices Normal mobile phones With GPS Without GPS, using Cell-ID

Topics • Different mobile platforms API: J2ME, Symbian, Windows Mobile, iPhone, Android • Terminal positioning methods Methods in different platforms Getting Cell-ID Convert Cell-ID to geographical location Technical security

Mobile API platforms • Closed OS (e.g. Nokia S40) (over 70%) • Symbian Series 60 (~15%) • Symbian UIQ (<1%) • Windows Mobile (<1%) • Blackberry – Java-based • iPhone – Mac Os X • Google Android – Java-based • Other Linux phones

Mobile platform APIs • Most platforms – SIM Toolkit, WAP, J2ME • Closed OS (e.g. Nokia S40) – only J2ME and WAP • Symbian Series 60 – Native (C++) • Symbian UIQ – Native (C++) • Windows Mobile – Native (C#, C++), J2ME • Blackberry – Specific mobile Java, J2ME • iPhone – iPhone OS/Mac OS X; Objective-C and Javascript • Google Android – Specific mobile Java • Linux phone – native, Java SE • Java Phone – Java

Positioning base data methods • SIM Toolkit Non-standard, there is no in-phone API, can get data only by server (OTA: SMS; USSD) or using SIM Toolkit API. Can see several cells and Rx. JSR-177 API theoretically allows access to SIM Toolkit application from J2ME, but no real implementations • WAP Server-based Mobile Positioning can only be used (Ericsson MPS etc) • J2ME JSR-179 Location API for internal GPS: location, address, orientation, course, speed, altitude, landmarks, xtra info (lif, nmea), ProximityListener. External Bluetooth GPS: BT serial connection, NMEA information Cell-ID based: can get Cell-ID, LAC, MNC for some phones No direct way to see WiFi basestation ID-s (or Rx values) • Native libraries Symbian, Windows Mobile: Cell-iD, LAC, MNC 3rd party libraries for WiFi positioning (e.g. Skyhook), Bluetooth positioning Typically vendor-specific • Vendor-specific APIs Motorola iDen API: com.motorola.iden.position.* Android mapping and location APIs iPhone location APIs

Symbian-specific in-phone positioning J2ME Application + native location Fully native application gateway

J2ME-specific in-phone positioning Non-standard: Cell-ID Standard: GPS-based

Mobile operator solutions A-GPS based Cell-ID based

Cell-ID : SonyEricsson phones • Requirement Java Platvorm 7.3 or newer Phones released around 2006 and newer Older phone may need firmware update (7.1  7.3) Does not work in SE Symbian (i.e. UIQ) or Windows Mobile (Xperia X1) phones • Method : String cellID = System.getProperty(quot;com.sonyericsson.net.cellidquot;); • Data: Cell-Id, LAC, MNC, CMNC, MCC, CMCC, RAT

Cell-ID : Nokia phones • Requirement Series 40 3rd FP1 edition, requires operator or manufacturer signing Series 60 3rd Edition, FP2 (phones released 2008 and newer, does not work on e.g. N95), no signing required • Method : System.getProperty(quot;com.nokia.mid.cellidquot;); // S60,new S40 System.getProperty(quot;Cell-IDquot;); // S40 3rd FP1 • Data: Cell-Id, LAC (not in S60), countrycode, networkid

Other Java phones/platforms • Motorola String cellID = System.getProperty(quot;phone.cidquot;); • Blackberry class net.rim.device.api.system.GPRSInfo.GPRSCellInfo Methods getCellId() , getBSIC() , getARFCN() • Google Android Class android.location.Location Methods: getAltitude(), getLatitude(), getLongitude(), getSpeed() Class android.location.Geocoder Package com.google.android.maps (Google Maps) with com.google.android.maps.MyLocationOverlay

Location in other mobile platforms • iPhone Location API available for native application Gives location coordinates using GPS or Cell-ID (depending on requested accuracy), Cell-ID is invisible and automatically located • Symbian Location Acquisition API – provides GPS coordinates Low-level Cell-ID data available Requires application signing • Windows Mobile, native apps No built-in location API for native apps, but libraries available GPS NMEA data available via serial connection Cell-ID data available, but must be translated by application • Widget platforms, at least some have location API Google Gears Mobile: currently (Q1/09) in WinMo and Android only. Other platforms probably coming

Automatic Cell-ID • Some phones use internally Cell-ID, using vendor’s cell-id database iPhone, with native apps. Web API is expected to come. Nokia with JSR-179 support (S60 3rd edition and S40 6th edition) Google Android Some widget platforms: e.g. Google Gears Mobile • Developer implementation : Use standard location API (JSR-179 or Android Location API) to get coordinates. Does not give raw cell-id, and no need for that. Set required location accuracy to 500 m (or larger) Note that some of these systems may use also WiFi and IP-based positioning, actual method is typically not reveled to developer • User configuration: Enable network-based positioning method

Cell Broadcasting in J2ME • Many GSM networks broadcast textual cell name, which is unique and could be used for geographical location look-up • Usually CBS channel “050” is used • J2ME WMA API can be used to access CBS • Usage in practice is very limited: Most J2ME implementations do not support CBS at all (even if phone supports WMA API for SMS and MMS), or even if CBS is theoretically available, then they does not show channel 050 contents From several tested platforms only Nokia S60 gets actual name of cell, but it is very rarely updated (takes minutes) No (public) cell name geolocation databases available

Native applications • Symbian Native telephony APIs/ C++ – vendor-specific Some simple open-source Python scripts are available(signed shell needed), suitable for experimentation • Windows Mobile AT command – oldest method: AT+CREG=2 Native vendor-specfic methods with API

Other methods to get location info • Network Monitor Hidden firmware function in (old) GSM phones No API, only for visual study Shows all covering Cell-IDs, Rx, Color codes etc • Cell Name Broadcasting (CBS) In 3G networks: SAI – Service Area Indicator, rarely available and probably similar limits like with CBS in GSM • Other network ID-s WiFi: SSID/MAC + RSSI. Possible with native apps (Windows Mobile, Symbian, e.g. Skyhook libraries available), not accessible via J2ME. Bluetooth: MAAC. Very slow discovery, but accessible via J2ME Future: NFC, RFID for local area

CellID databases • Open global databases for mobile network CellSpotting.com Placelab / wigle.net – wifi, bluetooth beacons CellTrack OpenCellid Main issue: they all have still very limited coverage • Commercial services/databases – reasonable coverage Navizon – mobile cells, WiFi Skyhook Wireless - WiFi • Collect your own database – could be reasonable in small area Mobile network can sometimes change their cell-id-s, especially in 3G networks. There are also non-stationary base stations • Use big vendors global databases Yahoo ZoneTag – REST-based API. Mainly US coverage, but open and free to use Google and Nokia have their global databases with good coverage, but there is no public API to access them directly. Maybe in the future.

Security aspects • J2ME location API (JSR-179) Asks always user permission to give location If signed app, one-time allow after starting app Cannot be used for externally initiated tracking • J2ME cell-id properties SonyEricsson: no CellId data security, no asking from the user. Nokia S60: no security, Nokia S40: requires operator or manufacturer signing, which is hard for 3rd party There is still J2ME communication security (network, file, SMS etc) • Symbian and Windows Mobile cell-id and GPS data Should be signed app to get the location data from phone

What Nutiteq provides • Custom Mobile mapping application development services • MGMaps Mobile Mapping SDK J2ME, Blackberry, Android APIs Advanced mapping (on-line, offline) Positioning (GPS, Cell-ID) Geocoding, Routing Map overlays (KML layers etc) Open source Wide device support

Thank you! Jaak Laineste MSc & MBA from University of Tartu Nutiteq LLC, CEO and founder jaak@nutiteq.com Mobile: +372 509 2586 Skype: nutiteq www.nutiteq.com

http://www.nutiteq.com	125
http://www.slideshare.net	122
http://deysandeep.blogspot.com	7
http://192.168.1.240	5
http://static.slidesharecdn.com	3
http://www.nutiteq.ee	2
http://translate.googleusercontent.com	1
http://www.lmodules.com	1
http://www.techgig.com	1
http://www.e-presentations.us	1
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com	1

Terminal-based Mobile Positioning overview

by Jaak Laineste on Jan 03, 2009

Accessibility

Categories

Tags

Upload Details

Usage Rights

11 Embeds 269

Statistics

Terminal-based Mobile Positioning overview — Presentation Transcript