Native Mobile Applications Research Articles

Generic airport location-based services using an integrated indoor positioning system

This paper documents the results of an experiment to provide location-based services information to smart phone apps in an airport terminal from a back-end cloud-based server environment, replacing the need for smart phone app integration with proprietary location-based services software development kits (SDKs). Specifically, the experiment implements a low-energy Bluetooth (BLE) indoor positioning system (IPS) and a mobile application using a Representational State Transfer (REST) application programming interface (API) to a cloud-hosted IPS. A proprietary SDK is not required to be compiled into the native mobile application. The experiment tests a system architecture to determine if indoor positions can be processed by a cloud system instead of by a native mobile application using only Bluetooth radio signal readings. No other sensors and readings from the compass, accelerometer or gyroscope are required by the IPS to determine device location. The IPS’s performance is evaluated by measuring location accuracy, time to process location requests, client battery usage while using the API, and scalability to handle simultaneous API requests from multiple devices.

A model-driven approach for the development of native mobile applications focusing on the data layer

The data layer access design is a critical task for mobile applications which need constant access to remote data, making them available offline in case of network connectivity problems. Moreover, the variety of mobile operating systems and platforms (fragmentation phenomenon) that handles data storage differently affects the portability of mobile applications. This issue suggests the use of Model-Driven Development (MDD) approach that may ease the smartphone application development for different platforms. Therefore, we propose an extension of the Model-Oriented Web Approach (MoWebA) for the development of native mobile applications focusing on the data layer. MoWebA Mobile (as we name the proposal) covers data persistence concepts to achieve offline applications in case of network connectivity problems. It defines meta-models and the Architecture-Specific Model (ASM) for data persistence and data provider to design the data sources of mobile applications. As well, we propose transformation rules for the generation of Android and Windows Phone applications. The MoWebA Mobile process was illustrated by means of modeling, design, and development of a typical mobile application. Despite the learning curve of the approach, the first evaluation suggests that MoWebA Mobile has the potential for supporting the mobile design applications considering the persistence of data.

A Model-Driven Engineering Approach for Automating the Portability of User Interfaces in Native Mobile Applications

A Model-Driven Engineering Approach for Automating the Portability of User Interfaces in Native Mobile Applications

Sincronización de datos en el contexto de procesos terapéuticos de rehabilitación física

In the development of an information platform focused on the daily operations of a physical rehabilitation clinic, two main software components are currently being worked on for their interaction with users. A web application focused on the operations of labor personnel (specialists and training professionals) and a native mobile application focused on the actions of patients, each of them has the need to interact with the same information repository, analyzing the side of the Patient problems arise from permanent connectivity to the main data through the Internet or some other data transmission protocol, the requirement arises to be able to interact with the generated personal information, which could be achieved by synchronizing data between client-server.

Pragmatic Approach to Modeling and Generating Mobile Cross-Platform Applications

As a result of the ubiquity of smartphones, the number of mobile applications is extensively growing. In order to build native apps that reach all devices, developers should deal with many different operating systems, SDKs, development tools and programming languages, which implies serious effects on cost, time and success of the mobile project. In this study, the main objective is to propose a pragmatic approach for modeling and generating native cross-platform mobile applications, respecting a multi-layer architecture. The proposed approach is an MDA based technique which combines UML formals and DSL. The paper is illustrated with the modeling of a typical CRUD based app.

An Analysis of Five Different Native and Web-Hybrid Platforms for Building Android Apps and their Accessibility for Screen Readers

The choice of an interface platform to develop mobile applications may have important implications to how accessible the resulting product can be for visually-disabled users. This paper aimed to analyze four platforms to develop native and web-hybrid mobile Android applications, and to verify the adequacy of their interface components to implement mobile applications, in order to identify the main accessibility problems that could be encountered by developers when using them, and the main strategies to overcome those issues. We built 5 prototypes of mobile applications with the aim of adhering as much as possible to accessibility recommendations. The applications were built using techniques of native applications developed with Android Studio with and without Web components and hybrid development using the frameworks Apache Cordova, Ionic and Appcelerator Titanium. We then performed an accessibility inspection of a sample of 30 Android interface components present in 5 prototypes of mobile applications, to verify their adequacy for working with screen readers. The results showed that the prototypes developed using web components were more compatible with accessibility criteria in the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.0) and with the screen reader TalkBack. The most frequent accessibility problems in native components occurred in tables, headings and multimedia elements. We conclude by showing initial evidence that webbased components in hybrid applications developed using webhybrid and native with embedded web components currently have better support for accessibility than applications with only native components.

Native vs. Hybrid Mobile Applications as Society Enters the Internet of Things

For nearly two decades, desktops dominated as the primary means of accessing the internet until 2007, the era of mobile phones with touchscreens capability entered the market by Apple Inc. Currently, the high demand of accessibility and mobility through mobile technology is adding more pressure on application developers leaving them to focus more on “meeting deadlines than application security,” which is a critical component as hybrid applications play a significant role in the advancement of IoT and cross-platform compatibility. New technologies are adopting unresolved security issues from the latter. This article aims to initiate discussions within the development and research community regarding hybrid mobile app security, market, role in IoT, advantages, disadvantages, security challenges and the best practices as society enters into a new paradigm envisioned as a ubiquitous global network.

Túum: Test Model for Native Mobile Applications

Nowadays the testing area in mobile application is strongly studied due to the increasing use of mobile devices and the development of mobile applications with different approaches, such as multimedia, games, information, among others. Mobile applications must consider several quality aspects such as optimizing resource use and usability to help meet targets. To accomplish this, several authors have proposed testing models. However, these models do not consider important aspects such as diversity of devices and do not cover the entire application developing process. This article describes a testing model for native mobile applications, characterized by specific tools and steps that contribute to measure aspects of internal and external quality such as failures or code optimization and usability recommendations. In addition, our model is attached to the software development process, from requirements to system testing, which facilitates its implementation and helps timely detection and correction of errors before continuing with the software development cycle.

An End User Development Approach for Mobile Web Augmentation

The trend towards mobile devices usage has made it possible for the Web to be conceived not only as an information space but also as a ubiquitous platform where users perform all kinds of tasks. In some cases, users access the Web with native mobile applications developed for well-known sites, such as, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. These native applications might offer further (e.g., location-based) functionalities to their users in comparison with their corresponding Web sites because they were developed with mobile features in mind. However, many Web applications have no native counterpart and users access them using a mobile Web browser. Although the access to context information is not a complex issue nowadays, not all Web applications adapt themselves according to it or diversely improve the user experience by listening to a wide range of sensors. At some point, users might want to add mobile features to these Web sites, even if those features were not originally supported. In this paper, we present a novel approach to allow end users to augment their preferred Web sites with mobile features.We support our claims by presenting a framework for mobile Web augmentation, an authoring tool, and an evaluation with 21 end users.

Modern and Responsive Mobile-enabled Web Applications

Rapid web technology improvements in the last few years have powered software developers to quickly write responsive mobile-friendly applications. The innovative web frameworks and libraries make it easy to have same software code base for desktop and mobile devices. Single-page applications offer a more-native-app-like experience to the user. This also means a web application can easily be converted to a native mobile application if desired. This allows software products to be evolved continuously at a much faster pace with features added on daily basis. The software companies who can adopt these technologies will most likely see the benefit in the long run as they can offer new and modified products faster than their competitors.In this paper, we review some of the state-of-the-art web technologies, third-party libraries, and frameworks for quick interactive web development. Finally, we present a simple interactive browser-based, mobile friendly web application which was developed using one of the latest web development framework.

A product-line model-driven engineering approach for generating feature-based mobile applications

Abstract A significant challenge faced by the mobile application industry is developing and maintaining multiple native variants of mobile applications to support different mobile operating systems, devices and varying application functional requirements. The current industrial practice is to develop and maintain these variants separately. Any potential change has to be applied across variants manually, which is neither efficient nor scalable. We consider the problem of supporting multiple platforms as a ‘software product-line engineering’ problem. The paper proposes a novel application of product-line model-driven engineering to mobile application development and addresses the key challenges of feature-based native mobile application variants for multiple platforms. Specifically, we deal with three types of variations in mobile applications: variation due to operation systems and their versions, software and hardware capabilities of mobile devices, and functionalities offered by the mobile application. We develop a tool MOPPET that automates the proposed approach. Finally, the results of applying the approach on two industrial case studies show that the proposed approach is applicable to industrial mobile applications and have potential to significantly reduce the development effort and time.

The National Capital Region closed circuit television video interoperability project.

The National Capital Region (NCR) includes many government jurisdictions and agencies using different closed circuit TV (CCTV) cameras and video management software. Because these agencies often must work together to respond to emergencies and events, a means of providing interoperability for CCTV video is critically needed. Video data from different CCTV systems that are not inherently interoperable is represented in the "data layer." An "integration layer" ingests the data layer source video and normalizes the different video formats. It then aggregates and distributes this video to a "presentation layer" where it can be viewed by almost any application used by other agencies and without any proprietary software. A native mobile video viewing application is also developed that uses the presentation layer to provide video to different kinds of smartphones. The NCR includes Washington, DC, and surrounding counties in Maryland and Virginia. The video sharing architecture allows one agency to see another agency's video in their native viewing application without the need to purchase new CCTV software or systems. A native smartphone application was also developed to enable them to share video via mobile devices even when they use different video management systems. A video sharing architecture has been developed for the NCR that creates an interoperable environment for sharing CCTV video in an efficient and cost effective manner. In addition, it provides the desired capability of sharing video via a native mobile application.

Using mobile technology to motivate adolescents with type 1 diabetes mellitus: A systematic review of recent literature

Introduction Behavioural interventions have been shown to improve outcomes in patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM). There are a small number of studies that suggest text-messages (TM), native mobile applications (NMAs), and other mobile tools may be useful platforms for delivering behavioural interventions to adolescents. Aim The aim of this study was to explore, by way of a systematic review of available literature, (a) the outcomes of interventions using mobile technology for youth with T1DM and (b) what mobile technologies, functional design elements and aesthetic design elements have the best evidence to support their use. Methods A search of six online databases returned 196 unique results, of which 13 met the inclusion criteria. Results Four studies were randomised controlled trials (RCTs), and all others prospective cohort studies. TM (10) was the most common intervention technology, while NMAs were used in four studies. The most common outcome measured was HbA1c (9); however, only three studies showed a significant decrease. Similarly, the results reported for other outcome measures were mixed. The studies included in this review suggest that interventions which have data collection and clinician support functionality may be more effective in improving adherence and glycaemic control, but more evidence is needed. Further, the evidence base supporting the use of NMAs in T1DM management for adolescents is weak, with most studies adopting TM as the intervention tool. Overall, the studies lack adequate descriptions of their methodology, and better quality studies are required to inform future intervention design.

Validation of a Business Model for Cultural Heritage Institutions

The paper proposes a business model for the efficiency optimization of the interaction between all actors involved in cultural heritage sector, such as galleries, libraries, archives and museums (GLAM). The validation of the business model is subject of analyses and implementations in a real environment made by different cultural institutions. The implementation of virtual exhibitions on mobile devices is described and analyzed as a key factor for increasing the cultural heritage visibility. New perspectives on the development of virtual exhibitions for mobile devices are considered. A study on the number of visitors of cultural institutions is carried out and ways to increase the number of visitors are described.Keywords: Cultural Heritage, Virtual Exhibitions, Business Model, Mobile Applications, Validation1 IntroductionAs previous presented in [1], we are living in the era of the internet and mobile technologies, where information can be accessible at a touch/click distance and the most important is that the access can be anytime and from anywhere. Mobile technologies have evolved at exponential rate in the last years and the evolution will continue. The rapid change of mobile devices in hardware and software have made possible the replacement of old computers and laptops with smart phones and tablets when discussing about internet surfing, email checking and so on [2].Young people represent the majority of mobile device users, having grown up with these gadgets and being familiar with their use. A big issue of the anytime-anywhere access to information of young people is that they want to discover everything online, they have no time to go to libraries to read classic books, they are not willing to visit museums and art galleries to explore exhibitions of paintings, sculptures and so on. Thus, their knowledge of culture, literature and history is not as rich as schools and universities expected them to have.In order to aid the young generation and to increase the visibility and number of visitors, libraries and museums have decided to present their exhibitions and collections online. The idea of virtual exhibitions implementation on mobile devices, as native mobile applications, is accepted by many museums and libraries that already have digitized material available online. A virtual exhibition goes beyond digitizing a collection which is primarily meant for preservation [3]. Digital exhibitions need digital storytelling, which is one way for cultural heritage institutions to give new meaning to an object and to create a captivating story around it. The real exhibitions can serve as the starting point for digital storytelling applications. Digitized objects that will be embedded in a storytelling application must be chosen with care, because not all objects in an exhibition are suitable for a digital storytelling project [4].The potential offered by mobile technologies and the increased number of mobile devices processing multimedia content, both offline and online, facilitate the implementation of virtual exhibitions on mobile devices [5]. In [6] and [7], a cybernetic model for computerization of the cultural heritage is proposed in order to study the relationship between the organizations involved.Over the past two decades, the technological development, such as innovative hardware and software, information retrieval channels, mobile devices, had a great economic and social impact on our lives. They have radically changed the way we find and receive our information and, most importantly, the way how we communicate [5].As considered in [8], the cultural heritage represent a significant power for the current century in Europe. The cultural heritage is the heart of what it means to be European and it is now discovered by both governmental institutions and citizens as a solution of improving economic performance and people's lives.The current paper is an extended version of the work presented at the 14th International Conference on Informatics in Economy, IE 2015, 30 April - 03 May 2015, Bucharest, Romania [1]. …

A Trivia like Mobile Game with Autonomous Content That Uses Wikipedia Based Ontologies

The mobile devices are everywhere and the gaming industry has an important market share on this field. This paper aims to present a new approach of game which generates autonomous its content, without human intervention, by using existing facts from the semantic version of Wikipedia, called DBpedia. At the beginning a short introduction of the studied field and of the used terms and technologies is presented. There are also remembered similar approaches and different struggles from this domain. In the middle part the architecture and the logic of the system are shown. The paper ends with some conclusions and future plans.Keywords: Semantic Web, Ontologies, Open Linked Data, Mobile Games(ProQuest: ... denotes formulae omitted.)1 IntroductionThe mobile industry is literally huge. In the US, 55% of the adult population owns a smart phone and it is predicted that by the end of 2016 we will have 1.4 smart devices per person on the planet. Even if the market is so big, its granularity is still high from an OS point of view. The leader is the Android OS, closely followed by the iOS. Another players are the Blackberry OS, Windows OS and the last but not to ignore, the recent launched Firefox OS.A mobile device owner uses in average 26.8 apps per month and 57% of these people use their apps daily. The most used apps are from the Search, Portal & Social category (with 10 hours and 56 minutes spent per month per user), closely followed by the apps which are used 10 hours and 34 minutes monthly per user [12]. Unfortunately the most apps from the Entertainment category, which the games are part of, involve a whole team of developers for the engine of the game at the beginning and then, for developing the content. With investments that sometimes overtake the budgets of many movies, the games consume more and more money.But what if we can use an automatic way of providing the content? Robots that write press articles already exist [10], so why not developing a game that uses a semantic web approach in providing its content in general, or to be more specific, general knowledge questions in particular.The path for semantic answering questions in a gaming environment was paved since February 2011 when the Watson Question Answering system built by the IBM Research team challenged two human champions in the American TV quiz show Jeopardy! and bested them. However, the questions being played for the quiz had been created by human authors. The information used to solve these questions came from the Linked Open Data (LOD) and analysis of large amount of documents like newspaper articles. Even though Watson has won the quiz show, the knowledge that can be drawn automatically from the LOD cloud is far from being perfect [8].But this thing doesn't mean it can't be used for entertainment purposes like question source for a trivia like game. In fact its correctness can be adjusted by players. If more players report a question as being incorrect then the system can consider that most probably it is and ignore it from future shows. Maybe it is a better approach to have an almost infinite number of possible question with an accepted error ratio, than to have a limited number of 100% correct questions that will repeat themselves.2 Technologies UsedAs we saw in the previous section, right now there isn't a unique approach in developing a native mobile application. Each platform and operating system has its own development environment and its own programming language for writing apps.But, even so, there is an alternative in the name of hybrid apps. They are usually responsive web applications that run in a native web browser control. There are multiple platforms for developing this kind of apps, but the most important is PhoneGap. PhoneGap is a platform based on HTML and JavaScript which can be used for developing hybrid mobile applications (Figure 1).Basically a PhoneGap application implements platform specific webView like controls which run JavaScript code in order to access specific elements of the mobile device like network connectivity, contacts, file system, multimedia or camera. …

A Location Aware Mobile Tool for Direct and Indirect Climate Data Sensors

AbstractAccess to GIS data from mobile platforms continues to be a challenge and there is a wide range of fields where it is extremely useful. In this work, we combined three key aspects: climate data sensors, mobile platforms and spatial proximity operations. We published and made use of a web 2.0 network of climate data, where content is user‐collected, by means of their meteorological stations, and exposed as available information for the virtual community. Moreover, we enriched this data by giving the users the opportunity to directly inform the system with different climate measures. In general, management of this type of information from a mobile application could result in an important decision tool, as it enables us to provide climate‐related data according to a context and a geographical location. Therefore, we implemented a native mobile application for iPhone and iPad platforms by using ArcGIS SDK for iOS and by integrating a series of ArcGIS webmaps, which allows us to perform geospatial queries based on the user's location, offering, at the same time, access to all the data provided by the climate data sensor network and from direct users.

Mobile Web-Based System for Remote-Controlled Electronic Devices and Smart Objects

Nowadays there are many intelligent electronic devices in the everyday environments: appliances, industrial machinery, devices for service providers in the cities, etc. These electronic devices usually communicate with other devices and people in order to perform tasks or provide services. The most common form of interaction between people and devices is using the device interfaces (buttons, touch screens, etc.). However, there are other ways of interacting such as Smartphone's, which are used to communicate users with electronic devices. Normally, the user selects the commands or actions from an application installed on the Smartphone. This application uses the Smartphone communication hardware elements (e.g., Bluetooth, Wi-Fi) to send the selected commands to the electronic device. Native mobile applications are platform-dependent (Android, Symbian, etc.) and are developed for multiple platform usually have high development costs. We present a proposal that allows web applications to access the device communication hardware elements, making possible the communication with physical devices.

Develop Cross-Platform Smartphone Application for Lotus OA

Lotus OA is widely used in some large departments. Because of its special architecture, it is difficult to develop a corresponding native mobile application. This paper propose an economic structure to develop native mobile application for Lotus OA. Use this structure, traditional Web developer can directly participate in the Lotus mobile development. This paper introduces our development process, explain the reason why we choose this structure. Also, this paper compares our software structure with other software structures, the result shows that our structure is more economic than other structures.

Mobile 3D Library Map: an innovative wayfinding tool for library users on the move

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to deliver a mobile solution for our next-generation users to locate the library’s collections and facilities effectively through advanced visualisation and interactivity techniques. The widespread use of mobile devices within our students and staff community for their day-to-day operations has significantly driven the demand for more library services to go mobile. Design/methodology/approach – Development of the solution was done in two phases. The first is to construct a real-world model of the library to optimise visual impact and interactivity. The model captures all library facilities such as discussion rooms, cafés, service counters, book shelves, furniture as well as the décor and general ambience. The second is to build the native mobile application on the popular iOS and Android platforms, making use of the same back-end functionalities and services as the existing online and kiosk application. Perspective rendering technique is also used to generate 360° panorama, path overview and step-by-step guide which greatly enhance user orientation and navigation. The guiding principle is to develop a lightweight solution and to keep the design intuitive so that users are able to access the service without any assistance. Findings – This initiative has received good feedback from our users, especially Generation Y students who prefer visual images rather than large amounts of text. Compared to static maps and directories, the ability to interact with the system appeals to all groups of users. Originality/value – The integration with the library catalogue to allow users to pinpoint the exact location of resources is unique. On top of the wayfinding services that have been developed, there is a lot of potential for further development of richer user interactive applications to embrace the new generation of users.

Creating Virtual Exhibitions for Educational and Cultural Development

The paper presents different tools and mechanisms to implement a virtual exhibition in different cultural areas, such as museums and libraries. Quality characteristics of virtual exhibitions are identified and described. The possibility to create native mobile applications for virtual exhibitions presentation is analyzed. The functional flow of creating a virtual exhibition is presented and discussed. The Seals - History Treasure exhibition is presented and significant historical documents are revealed.Keywords: Virtual, Digital, Exhibition, Mobile, Cultural, Educational1 Introduction - Digital versus VirtualIt must be realized a difference between the digital and virtual concepts. If we talk about digital libraries, then we have in attention electronic libraries, meaning collections of books, journals, thesis, and so on, which are stored in electronic format. If we consider the concept of virtual library, then we have in attention a collection of links that does not reflect physical books, journals, thesis, and so on.In [1] is described the crossover between virtual and physical interactions in smart virtual exhibitions. This approach seems particularly attractive, because it put the focus on the physical heritage and, at the same time, digital capabilities specifically created to fit the personalized user vision and experience.In [2] is presented the theory of virtualization in rapport to exhibition, especially the relation between spatial practice and digital mediation. There are presented concrete examples of virtual exhibitions, which put the theory into practice, by combining exhibition design with digital objects, from multimedia content to virtual objects, using a curatorial narrative in order to offer experience and immersion to visitors.It must be appreciated the Google involvement in the cultural heritage area, by mentioning the Google Art Project [3] and The Digital Dead Sea Scrolls [4]. Google Art Project is a collaborative project between Google and a lot of art partners from across the world, such as museums, libraries, galleries, and different cultural institutes. The Digital Dead Sea Scrolls is another project where Google contribution was extraordinary, because users can examine and explore the most ancient manuscripts from Second Temple times at a level of detail never before possible [4].2 Quality characteristics of Virtual ExhibitionsThe Digital Exhibitions Working Group [5] defined the digital exhibition as an ensemble of interlinks that has the objective to disseminate digital multimedia content, in order to deliver innovative presentations of a concept, and allowing in a great measure the user interaction.A virtual exhibition has the following quality characteristics:- localization, meaning to put the user/visitor in the context and making him familiar with the cultural elements presented;- relevance, in order to attract many visitors to access it and to be attracted about it;- interaction, meaning to give users the possibility to interact with the application rendering the virtual exhibition, for example to make zoom on a picture or to select something in order to get a detailed description;- maintainability, meaning the possibility to being updated every time when new elements appears and must be added to the gallery or when the creators want to enrich the descriptions or correct them;- accessibility, meaning to reach audiences that the physical exhibition never could attend.A virtual exhibition has many of key purposes:- to engage the members of the group in an in-depth, collaborative inquiry;- to provide an opportunity to explore multiple perspectives of a theme;- to inform colleagues and staffof the purpose and general guidelines for the exhibition;- collaborate with others to establish participation (for example, mentors, academics)- schedule a time frame for the inquiry process, including a date for the staging of the exhibition, and book any facilities required;- establish the resources needed, such as internet connection, audio-visual equipment, technology materials and consider budgetary limitations if necessary. …