José Danado

Puzzle: a visual-based environment for end user development in touch-based mobile phones

Despite the widespread usage of mobile devices there is a lack of environments able to allow end users to create applications directly in such devices. In this paper, we present the Puzzle framework, which supports a visual environment for opportunistically creating mobile applications in touch-based mobile phones. The user interface is designed to be usable for mobile users that do not use programming languages in their daily work as well as to motivate end users to playfully experiment and create applications. In particular, we report on its user interface, framework and evaluation.

Puzzle: A mobile application development environment using a jigsaw metaphor

Objective: Create a visual mobile end user development framework, named Puzzle, which allows end users without IT background to create, modify and execute applications, and provides support for interaction with smart things, phone functions and web services. Methods: Design of an intuitive visual metaphor and associated interaction techniques for supporting end user development in mobile devices with iterative empirical validation. Results: Our results show that the jigsaw is an intuitive metaphor for development in a mobile environment and our interaction techniques required a limited cognitive effort to use and learn the framework. Integration of different modalities and usage of smart things was relevant for users. Conclusion: Puzzle has addressed the main objective. The framework further contributes to the research on mobile end user development in order to create an incentive for users to go beyond consuming content and applications to start creating their own applications. Practice: Usage of a mobile end user development environment has the potential to create a shift from the conventional few-to-many distribution model of software to a many-to-many distribution model. Users will be able to create applications that fit their requirements and share their achievements with peers. Implications: This study has indicated that the Puzzle visual environment has the potential to enable users to easily create applications and stimulate exploration of innovative scenarios through smartphones.

An authoring tool for user generated mobile services

Imagine what kind of applications become possible when our mobile devices not only present data but provide valuable information to other users. Users become able to instantaneously create services and to publish content and knowledge on their own mobile device, which can be discovered and accessed remotely by other mobile users in a simple way. To achieve the vision of customizable and context aware user-generated mobile services, we present a mobile authoring tool for end-users to create, customize and deploy mobile services while on-the-go. This tool is designed to allow users with different levels of technical expertise to create mobile services. The paper also gives insight on the performed usability evaluations, namely user interviews and an online survey.

Augmenting reality with geo-referenced information for environmental management

When interacting with natural or urban environments there are many situations where the ability to access data in real time becomes relevant. Augmented Reality (AR) technologies allow real time superimposition of synthetic objects on real images, providing an augmented knowledge about the surrounding world. Using a Head Mounted Display, the user of an AR system can visualize the exterior world with additional virtual information that is generated in real time and in a contextual way.This paper presents ANTS (Augmented Environments), an AR project for providing geo-referenced environmental information. The project uses a flexible client-server approach that allows to move more or less components to the client, depending on processing power and application requirements. The geo-referenced database and 3D model for user positioning are located in the server and the presentation component, for image composition and display, is the most fundamental part of the client. The applications for environmental management, include monitoring water quality using models of the pollutant transport, the visualization of the temporal evolution of physical structures and the evolution of subsoil structures, such as phone and power supply networks.

A prototype for EUD in touch-based mobile devices

Widespread usage of powerful touch-based mobile devices enables the creation of tools that will allow end users to create their own mobile applications. In this paper, we introduce the Puzzle framework, which supports a visual authoring tool for opportunistically creating mobile applications in touch-based mobile phones. Puzzle focuses on users without programming experience and enables them to playfully experiment and create mobile applications. Puzzle applications can include access to web-services, native phone functions and interactive objects. In the paper, we report on its current architecture and user interface.

ANTS—Augmented Environments

Abstract Interaction with natural or urban environments creates numerous situations where it is relevant to have access to further information that we cannot perceive by direct observation through our senses. Augmented Reality (AR) technologies allow real time superimposition of synthetic objects on real images, providing an augmented knowledge about the surrounding world. Users of an AR system can visualize the real surrounding world together with additional data generated in real time in a contextual way. This paper presents the ANTS project, which carries out the development of an AR technological infrastructure that can be used to explore physical and natural structures, namely for environmental management purposes. The systems architecture has a flexible design based on a client-server model, where several independent, but functionally interdependent modules are articulated. Therefore, modules can be moved from the server side to the client side or vice versa, according to the client processing capacity. Several applications have been developed and are also discussed in this paper.

In-building positioning: modeling location for indoor world

The combination of location positioning technologies such as GPS and initiatives like the US Federal Communications Commissions E911 telecommunication has generated a lot of interest in applications and services that are a function of a users location, referred to as location-based services (LBS). A multitude of applications and services would also benefit from indoor (in-building) positioning and navigation. However, despite GPS technology and the positioning capabilities of cellular networks such as GSM, millions of square meters of indoor space are out of reach of these systems. Fortunately, over the past decade, advances in location positioning technology have made it possible to locate objects indoors. These alternative technologies are now being introduced to the market enabling many kinds of indoor LBS applications. The argument/exploration of this paper is that in order for indoor LBS to become widely used, there is a need for the infrastructure investment.

Defining user-generated services in a semantically-enabled mobile platform

Mobile computing enables end-users not only to access and consume information on-the-go but also to act as service and content providers. With the right tools, end-users can create small services on their mobiles and share valuable and context-aware information with others. This work introduces a platform for end-user generated mobile services --- so-called microservices. As a key component we present a microservice description language for user-driven mobile service creation, powerful service discovery, and platform-independent service execution and rendering. The paper also gives insight into the visual authoring tool and the user feedback gathered in evaluations.

Mobile environmental visualization

Abstract Environmental processes are a major point of concern for researchers, environmental engineers and the general public. This paper presents a multi-user mobile system to visualize environmental processes. This system enables multiple users to visualize and simulate environmental processes, and also retrieve additional information in real time, while moving through the environmental area under analysis. Each user is able to contribute to the simulation and assess the impact of adding or removing agents to or from the model, respectively. This system uses a modular approach, allowing its deployment through different platforms. Two main modules compose the system under development: a geo-referenced model and an Augmented Reality (AR) composition module. The geo-referenced model describes the environmental processes being modelled and tracks all users. The AR composition module allows users to visualize the geo-referenced model evolution and to interact with the model through two different views, namely animated map view and AR view.

Mobile Augmented Reality for Environmental Management (MARE)

Access to real-time data while in field observations is often a requested issue in environmental management. Additionally, it is easier to see that information spatially distributed where it makes sense, leveraging users of the task of searching for the context where the retrieved information can be applied. Augmented Reality (AR) is a technology that allows the superimposition of synthetic images over real images, providing augmented knowledge about the environment in the user’s vicinity. AR will also make the task more pleasant and effective for the user, since the required information is spatially superimposed over real information related to it. This short paper describes ANTS (Augmented Environments), an AR project for environmental management providing geo-referenced information to the user. The system’s architecture has a flexible design based on a client/server model, where several independent, but functionally interdependent modules are articulated. Therefore, modules can be moved from the server side to the client side or vice-versa, according to the client processing capacity. The system is being deployed in laptop computers and work is in progress to deploy the system using Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) devices. A 3D model and a geo-referenced database are used in the server for user positioning, and presentation components are used in the client to superimpose synthetic information over real images. Several applications for the system are being developed and will also be discussed in this short paper.