This dissertation investigates three topics related to movement and events associated with geospatial barriers. This research makes a unique contribution to geographic information science (GIScience), by examining how boundaries influence the interactions of other geographic features and to location-based services by bringing a GIScience perspective to geofence services. Chapters 2, 3, and 4 can be considered independently as journal articles. Each of these chapters builds on the previous. Chapter 2 serves as the base by examining geospatial barriers and impedance events associated with these barriers. The relationships between barriers, the features they protect and the features that they hinder are formalized in an ontology design pattern (ODP) that also includes events associated with these features. Algorithms are written to demonstrate the ODP can be used to answer queries about the presence or absence of barrier events. Chapter 3 transitions from physical boundaries to digital boundaries by examining geofences, a location-based notification service. Interaction between users and multiple geofences are investigated when the configuration of geofences differs (i.e. disconnected, partially overlapping, and completely overlapping) and when geofences are independent or dependent (a rule states that the activation of geofence Y depends on users having visited geofence X). A geofence system is prototyped in an iOS environment and used to further evaluate user-geofence interactions. Chapter 4 expands on the topic of location- based notification regions by investigating what is required for a geofence system to handle events. How changes in conditions (e.g. the spreading of a flood or movement of a fire) interact with geofences and users and what new categories of interactions are required to handle these changes are discussed. The proposed system is applied to a scenario of flooding on multiple rivers interrupting the transportation network.

This applied research Project presents the methodology of development understood in the achievement of a tracking solution for vehicles with GPS devices, the proposed software is part of a service of vehicle tracking offered by a telecommunications company. The system’s architecture is described and specified around the use cases in the multiples disciplines of the software process development. Although, there are multiples vehicle tracking solutions which are used in differents control centers, the offered solution gather the most representative functionalities from the best tracking solutions in the market and present it on objective way through in a complete and punctual proposal where the final user can use the solution using a web browser, likewise is shown the design of the solution using the disciplines and patterns requested by the software engineering. / Este proyecto de investigación aplicada presenta la metodología de desarrollo comprendida en la realización de una solución de monitoreo para vehículos con dispositivos GPS, el software propuesto forma parte del servicio de monitoreo vehicular que ofrece una empresa de telecomunicaciones. Se describe y especifica la arquitectura del sistema a través de casos de uso en las diversas disciplinas del proceso de desarrollo de software. Si bien existen diversas soluciones de monitoreo vehicular que son usadas en distintos centros de control, la solución propuesta agrupa las funcionalidades representativas de las mejores soluciones de monitoreo del mercado y las presenta de manera objetiva a través de una propuesta completa y puntual donde el usuario final pueda dar uso de la solución a través de un navegador web, así mismo se muestra el diseño de la solución utilizando las disciplinas y patrones que exige la ingeniería de software.