Several developments combine to enable a new class of on-line mobile services. Put simply, the performance/price ratio for consumer electronics is improving quickly, wireless communication technologies are becoming more and more widespread, and geo-positioning is becoming practical.
In comparison to desktop computing, mobile services use small screens, and they typically lack a keyboard. Further, they are often used in situation where the user''s main focus of attention is not the service. For these reasons, it is important that the user receives the ``right'''' information at the right time and with as little interaction as possible. These qualities may be obtained by making mobile services aware of the user''s context. A mobile user''s route towards her destination is an important aspect of her context.
This paper considers users traveling in road networks, and it presents a software component that builds routes for individual users based on traced coordinates. The paper presents the architecture and functionality of the route component. A database model that captures routes is described. The paper proposes the algorithms that solve the problems of route detection. These problems include travel position identification, formation of route parts, and route construction according to the structure of the road network. The algorithms, implemented using Java and Oracle''s PL/SQL and Oracle Spatial, are also presented.