Position Paper

W3C and WAP Workshop
on Position Dependent Information Services

February 15-16 2000
Sophia-Antipolis, Nice, France
http://www.w3.org/Mobile/posdep-workshop.html

Authors:
Minoru Sekiguchi, Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd., minoru@flab.fujitsu.co.jp
Kuniharu Takayama, Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd., taka@iias.flab.fujitsu.co.jp
Hirohisa Naito, Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd., naitou@flab.fujitsu.co.jp
Yoshiharu Maeda, Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd., haru@iias.flab.fujitsu.co.jp
Hisayuki Horai, Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd., horai@iias.flab.fujitsu.co.jp
Masahito Toriumi, Fujitsu Limited, toriumi@sysrap.cs.fujitsu.co.jp
Alan Hameed, Fujitsu Network Communications Inc., Alan.Hameed@fnc.fujitsu.com

1. Our Standpoint concerning position-related information

The goal of this workshop is described as addressing position relevant data as metadata in lightweight position-dependent applications, such as tourist applications. Such a metadata should be required as one of the indispensable attributes of various existences such as human, things, buildings, and geographic features. To realize the position relevant metadata, we should consider at least three points of view:

- specification issue,
- creation issue, and
- application issue.
The application issue should be considered first of all. There exist two main categories regarding such applications:
(a) applications using metadata on one location; and
(b) applications using metadata on plural locations such as a start point, via points, and a goal point (in other words, a destination).
The (a) occurs when users want to look around some points of interest. The (b) occurs when users want to go to a specific point or to know the path to the point. Wherein the path means several informations such as the route, via-points, required time, and distance to the destination. The (b) includes various applications such as business trips, maintenance visiting, sightseeings, tours, logistics, and public transportation services. In addition, it is noted that the (b) should be a natural extension of the (a) and the (a) should be included in the (b) as a special case.

Aiming to realize various application of the (b) including the (a) as a special case, we proposed the "NaVigation Markup Language (NVML)" [1]. We think that the problem of the position relevant metadata should be investigated considering the applications such as the (a) and the (b). For this sake, we would like to introduce the specification and applications of the NVML briefly.

2. Our potential contributions: "NVML (NaVigation Markup Language)"

2.1. What is the "NVML"?

A variety of mobile information appliances are developed rapidly such as smart phones with capability of Internet access, PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants) equipped with GPS (Global Positioning System), and car navigation systems. A navigation service is one of the indispensable services to these mobile information appliances, but currently it is only available with car navigation systems. In order to use the navigation service not only on cars but also on trains, on buses, and during walking with various mobile information appliances, a common data format for describing navigation information such as locations of points and route information is required.

The "NVML" (NaVigation Markup Language) [1] is a markup language for describing the navigation information satisfying the above requirement, and is defined by using the XML (eXtensible Markup Language) [2] authorized by the W3C. Since the contents of NVML data (e.g., Kyoto-Nara Tour) are marked up by tags (e.g., <title>), anyone can understand the data easily and computers can process and search the data quickly. Besides, NVML has a capability to describe several types of navigation information such as:

- a route from the current point to a destination;
- a way to a shop from the nearest station;
- transportation courses; and
- sightseeing/tour courses.
The NVML enables us to use a navigation service at any time and anywhere, and it will also be used in other services such as a guide service for sightseeing, a travel planning service, and a publishing service for tourists.

2.2. Specification of the NVML

Figure 1 shows a navigation data described by using the NVML.

 
 
<nvml version = "0.60"> 
 
    <head> 
        <title>     Rainbow Town Tour </title> 
        <category>  sightseeing       </category> 
        <transport> car, foot         </transport> 
        <duration>  3 hours           </duration> 
        <distance>  9.6km             </distance> 
        <expense>   700 yen           </expense> 
    </head> 
 
    <body> 
        <navi> 
            <point> 
                <name>      Tokyo Station     </name> 
                <category>  Station           </category> 
                <latitude>  N35.40.39.0       </latitude> 
                <longitude> E139.46.18.1      </longitude> 
                <address>   Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo </address> 
            </point> 
            <info delay = "2s" duration = "5s"> 
                <text> 
                    Tokyo Station 
                </text> 
                <voice> 
                    This is Tokyo Station. 
                </voice> 
                <image src = "image/tokyo-station.jpg"/> 
            </info> 
        </navi> 

        <navi> 
            <route> 
                <means> car </means> 
            </route> 
        </navi> 

          ... 

        <guide> 
            <point> 
                <name>      Odaiba Seaside Park </name> 
                <category>  Park                </category> 
                <latitude>  N35.37.39.6         </latitude> 
                <longitude> E139.46.54.5        </longitude> 
            </point> 
            <info duration = "10s" area ="5km"> 
                <voice> 
                    You can see the beautiful Rainbow Bridge. 
                </voice> 
                <image src = "image/odaiba.jpg"/> 
            </info> 
        </guide> 

          ... 

    </body> 
 
</nvml> 
 
Figure 1: Example of NVML data

The meaning of each element is as follows:

- The "head" element
shows the outline of the entire navigation and guidance.
- The "body" element
specifies the detail of the route navigation and the point guidances and consists of a sequence of "navi" elements and sets of "guide" elements.
- The "navi" element
specifies the detail of the route navigation and consists of a "point" element or a "route" element and additionally an "info" element. Reaching to the point specified in the "point" element, the information described in the "info" element is output.
- The "guide" element
specifies the detail of the point guidance and consists of a "point" element and additionally an "info" element. Entering into the area specified in the "point" element, the information described in the "info" element is output.
Thus the NVML data describes the navigation and guidance information by combining the point and route data with the information to be output.

2.3. Tools for the NVML

(1) NVMLPlayer

We are developing an NVML tool called "NVMLPlayer" which plays NVML data and has following functionalities:

- display of the point and route on a map and output of the navigation/guidance information by texts, voices, and images; and
- actual navigation and virtual simulation of the courses.
The NVMLPlayer for PCs has all of the functionalities while one for cellular phones will only have a few functionalities because of the limitations of the processing power and display size.

(2) NVMLEditor

We are also developing an NVML tool called "NVMLEditor" which is for editing and authoring NVML data and has following functionalities:

- display of the NVML data as a tree structure with GUI (Graphical User Interface);
- indication of the points on a map; and
- creation of the navigation/guidance information by texts, voices, and images.

Figure 2 shows an NVMLPlayer and an NVMLEditor for PCs. The NVMLPlayer is implemented as a plug-in software for popular web browsers.

NVMLPlayer and NVMLEditor
Figure 2: NVMLPlayer and NVMLEditor for PCs

2.4. Applications of the NVML

The popularization of the NVML will lead to various applications:

- Business trips and maintenance visitings:
- look about the path to the destinations;
- move by a car with a car navigation system; and
- switch to a cellular phone after getting off the car and then walking.

- Logistics:
- schedule the optimal courses of all of the trucks at the center; and
- direct the course to each truck.

- Sightseeings and tours:
- plan good courses;
- show the courses at information desks; and
- publish pamphlets of the courses at the publisher.

Figure 3 shows these applications of the NVML.

Applications of NVML
Figure 3: Applications of NVML

3. Our expectation on this workshop

Our suggestion is that the problem of the position relevant metadata should be investigated considering the applications using metadata on plural locations (including one location as a special case) such as a start point, via points, and a goal point (in other words, a point of interest). For this sake, we explained the specification and applications of the NVML briefly.

Realization of the NVML has also three issues:

- specification issue,
- creation issue, and
- application issue.
Concerning the specification issue, we already submitted the specification of the NVML [1] to the W3C. On the other hand, concerning the application issue, first of all we can consider the several types of output interface of the NVML application systems as follows:
- Output the navigation/guidance information of points and routes by texts, voices, and images with
- an NVMLPlayer for PCs; or
- some application softwares composed of a map software and a multimedia player (e.g., a SMIL (Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language) [3] player);
- Look at the navigation/guidance information of texts and images with
- compact browser for cellular phones
by transforming the NVML data into a Compact HTML [4], WML (Wireless Markup Language) [5], or XHTML (eXtensible HyperText Markup Language) [6] data.
- Look at the navigation/guidance information of texts, images, and simple maps with
- small browser for PDA (Personal Digital Assistant)
by transforming the NVML data into a SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) [7] data.

Thus the NVML is a good example of an application of the W3C and the WAP technologies and the considerations on the NVML will contribute to the W3C and the WAP technologies. Finally Our expectation is that the working group, which will be organized depending on the result of this workshop, will treat the position relevant information considering the functionalities of navigation/guidance such as shown by the NVML.

4. Summary

Our suggestion is that the problem of the position relevant metadata should be investigated considering the applications using metadata on plural locations (including one location as a special case) such as a start point, via points, and a goal point (in other words, a point of interest). For this sake, we would like to explain the specification and applications of the NVML briefly.

The "NVML" (NaVigation Markup Language) [1] is a markup language for describing the navigation information such as locations of points and route information. The NVML enables us to use a navigation service at any time and anywhere, and it will also be used in other services such as a guide service for sightseeing, a travel planning service, and a publishing service for tourists.

5. References

[1] "NaVigation Markup Language (NVML)," World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Note, 6 Aug. 1999, http://www.w3.org/TR/1999/NOTE-NVML-19990806 .
[2] "Extensible Markup Language (XML) 1.0," World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Recommendation, REC-xml-19980210, 2 Feb. 1998. http://www.w3.org/TR/1998/REC-xml-19980210 .
[3] "Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language (SMIL) 1.0 Specification," World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Recommendation, REC-smil-19980615, 15 Jun. 1998, http://www.w3.org/TR/1998/REC-smil-19980615 .
[4] "Compact HTML for Small Information Appliances," World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Note, 9 Feb. 1998, http://www.w3.org/TR/1998/NOTE-compactHTML-19980209 .
[5] "Wireless Markup Language Specification," Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) 1.0 Specification Suite, wml-30-apr-98.pdf, http://www.wapforum.org/what/technical_1_0.htm .
[6] "XHTML 1.0: The Extensible HyperText Markup Language - A Reformulation of HTML 4.0 in XML 1.0," World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Proposed Recommendation, PR-xhtml1-19991210, 10 Dec. 1999, http://www.w3.org/TR/1999/PR-xhtml1-19991210 .
[7] "Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) 1.0 Specification," World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Working Draft WD-SVG-19991203, 3 Dec. 1999, http://www.w3.org/TR/1999/WD-SVG-19991203 .