Chapter 3 - Wireless Graffiti — Data, data everywhere

Abstract

This chapter takes a retrospective look at the problem of querying and updating location dependent data in massively distributed mobile environments. As a result of the explosive growth of wireless Internet technologies in the late nineties, what was fantasy in 1992 became reality in 2002. The bursting of the Internet bubble and excessive spending on the part of many wireless infrastructure companies on wireless spectrum have slowed down the rapid pace of progress in deploying future generations of wireless networks. The so-called 2.5G (GPRS) and 3G wireless networks are emerging slowler than predicted a few years ago. This slower progress is undoubtedly a function of slowing economy and a need for new types of wireless terminals to “catch up” with requirements of the broader wireless band. User expectations have grown tremendously since the early days of wireless Internet. New wireless terminals run standard browsers such as Internet Explorer or Netscape. Terminals that combine browser and computer functions with standard voice functions of a telephone are now emerging in the market. Soon, GPS capabilities will be built into these devices as well. These terminals, which Dr. David Goodman calls “cell phones on steroids,” still face old problems that plague cell phones—miniature displays, and often difficult and obscure data entry. Wearable computing with miniature screen displays embedded into glasses and one handed “chordal” keyboards are still in early experimental stages.