Background: Smartphones and related applications are increa singly gaining relevance in the healthcare domain. We previously assessed the demands and preferences of medical students towards an application accompanying them during a course on general practice. The current study aims to elucidate the factors associated with adop tion of such a technology. Therefore we provided students with a prototype of an application specifically related to their studies in general practice.

Mobile applications are becoming more and more important in the daily life and offer interesting and completely new aspects to the field of cartography. The technological possibilities provided by computer science have had a large impact on cartography and therefore cartographers must be familiar with the development of software to present geographic information and make it accessible. With the recent rise of mobile devices like smartphones, it is inevitable that this has to include mobile platforms as well. The main focus of this Bachelor thesis is on the conceptual design and implementation of tutorials to teach the development of mobile applications or 'apps' for the Android platform. The tutorials are going to be part of exercises in a practical course that accompanies the lecture 'Mobile Cartography' held at the Institute of Cartography at the Dresden University of Technology. Five exercises have been created covering key aspects of Android programming with Java. The theoretical part of this thesis starts with providing definitions of important terms of mobile computing and mobile cartography that will play an important role throughout the thesis. After that possibilities of interaction with mobile and web applications are introduced and discussed briefly. Location-based services and their usage in the context of social networks are discussed in the following section before the sensors of mobile devices are analyzed. A brief discussion of the potential for augmented reality applications is also given. The following second section deals with mobile software platforms and focuses on the Android operating system for mobile devices. Within this section, the features of the Android framework are described and some specific characteristics of software development are explained. The third section is all about the conceptual design and implementation of the tutorials. Considering the requirements for the practical course and different aspects of learning, the pedagogical approach is described. Additionally the ECLASS model which has evolved in the context of E-Learning is explained as it provided the structure of the exercises. After that, the content of the five exercises which include basics, layout, internal interaction of components, database access and the integration of maps is reflected. Finally, a brief outlook on further possible exercises is given.

Some Location Based Services (LBS) can automatically find geographic locations that are relevant to the everyday smartphone user. A relevant location, or place, is a location that is of some significance to a user, e.g. home, workplace, airports or stores. Knowledge of these places can be used to enhance a smartphone application. However, most approaches to finding places are coarse, and simply define a place with a circle or polygon representing a geographical area. Instead this paper explored the feasibility of defining a place by using the natural boundaries found in the information of a map. The developed algorithm calculated the center of a cluster of location points by adding biased weights to each point. A close proximity of the center point was then searched for certain types of map elements such as buildings or parks. Because of time restrictions, map images were used instead of the underlying data. The developed algorithm found the correct place in 78% of the 45 test cases. In 15% of the cases it could not find anything, mainly because the map did not contain sufficiently detailed information about buildings outside of cities. The remaining 7% were incorrect results, some of which might have been remedied by more detailed map information. Overall the suggested approach was viable when a user had been in a building, park, or other clearly defined place, and when there was sufficiently detailed map information. To further this research an algorithm that processes geographical data directly instead of using map images could be tested. It would avoid some of the problems created by having an image as a middle layer between data and algorithm. / Vissa tjänster baserade på användarens geografiska position kan automatiskt hitta områden som är relevanta för en smartphoneanvändare. En relevant plats är ett område som har någon betydelse för en användare, till exempel ett hem, en arbetsplats, flygplats eller butik. Information om dessa platser kan användas för att berika en smartphoneapplikation. De flesta ansatser till att hitta relevanta platser är mindre detaljerade, och definierar en plats med en cirkel eller polygon som beskriver ett geografiskt område. Den här uppsatsen utforskar istället om det är möjligt att definiera en plats genom att använda naturliga gränser som finns i informationen på en karta. Den utvecklade algoritmen beräknade mittpunkten av ett cluster av GPS-punkter genom att partiskt ge varje punkt en vikt. Den sökte sedan igenom ett område runt mittpunkten efter en viss typ av kartelement, till exempel byggnader eller parker. På grund av tidbegränsningar användes kartbilder istället för underliggande geografisk data. Den utvecklade algoritmen hittade rätt plats i 78% av de 45 testfallen. I 15% av fallen hittade den ingen plats, främst på grund av att kartan saknade information om byggnader utanför städer. De resterande 7% var inkorrekta resultat, varav vissa skulle kunna räddats om kartan innehöll information om byggnaderna i området. Generellt var den föreslagna strategin användbar främst när en användare hade varit i en byggnad, park eller annan tydligt avgränsad plats, och när kartan innehöll tillräckligt detaljerad information. För att fortsätta denna undersökning kan en algoritm som använder den underliggande geografiska datan istället för en kartbild utvecklas. Det skulle undvika vissa av problemen som skapas av att ha en bild som mellanlager mellan data och algoritm.

For a mobile application with focus on search functionality to be able to run smoothly, it is important to provide relevant search result based on user input. This report is to investigate how to implement a search function, to provide appropriate answers. The project consists of developing a recipe application with basic functions. The focus will be towards the search algorithm, how it will be designed. To find out what users consider is relevant, a study is done with 88 participants. The results of the survey were evaluated, and remained as an underlay for what should be searchable and how to implement the search function. Creating a good search function proved to consumes a lot of time and resources. The mobile application was completed with the desired functionality, which was provided from the survey. / För att en mobilapplikation med fokus på sökfunktionalitet ska fungera väl, är det viktigt att sökfunktionen ger relevanta resultat baserat på användarens sökningar. Den här rapporten har i syfte att undersöka sökfunktionen kan implementeras för att ge relevant svar. Projektet består av att utveckla en receptapplikation med grundläggande funktionalitet, där fokus är hur sökalgoritmen ska utformas. För att ta reda på vad användare anser relevant har en undersökning gjorts med 88 deltagare. Resultatet av undersökning har utvärderats och legat som underlag för vad som ska vara sökbart samt hur denna sökfunktion bör implementeras. Att skapa en bra sökfunktion visade sig vara både resurs- och tidskrävande. Mobilapplikationen färdigställdes med önskad funktionalitet, där sökningsalternativen är baserade på vad undersökningen visade.

Refugees arriving in Europe face numerous socio-cultural challenges towards being integrated members of their host society. While acculturation strategies and ICT use of refugees have been studied separately, we investigate refugees’ smartphone use for acculturation by conducting qualitative interviews with 30 refugees. We contribute five practices related to acculturation that express refugees’ intercultural exchange within the host society while preserving their original culture: seek information online; communicate with family and friends abroad; meet locals; meet peers and counteract boredom. Tied to these practices, we find the five consequences empowerment, connection to host society, distraction, sense of belonging and connection to origin, which give an account of the various acculturation issues and how refugees use smartphones in support thereof.

The term global climate change is omnipresent since the beginning of the last decade. Changes in the global climate are associated with an increase in heavy rainfalls that can cause nearly unpredictable flash floods. Consequently, spatio-temporally high-resolution monitoring of rivers becomes increasingly important. Water gauging stations continuously and precisely measure water levels. However, they are rather expensive in purchase and maintenance and are preferably installed at water bodies relevant for water management. Small-scale catchments remain often ungauged. In order to increase the data density of hydrometric monitoring networks and thus to improve the prediction quality of flood events, new, flexible and cost-effective water level measurement technologies are required. They should be oriented towards the accuracy requirements of conventional measurement systems and facilitate the observation of water levels at virtually any time, even at the smallest rivers. A possible solution is the development of a photogrammetric smartphone application (app) for crowdsourcing water levels, which merely requires voluntary users to take pictures of a river section to determine the water level. Today’s smartphones integrate high-resolution cameras, a variety of sensors, powerful processors, and mass storage. However, they are designed for the mass market and use low-cost hardware that cannot comply with the quality of geodetic measurement technology. In order to investigate the potential for mobile measurement applications, research was conducted on the smartphone as a photogrammetric measurement instrument as part of the doctoral project. The studies deal with the geometric stability of smartphone cameras regarding device-internal temperature changes and with the accuracy potential of rotation parameters measured with smartphone sensors. The results show a high, temperature-related variability of the interior orientation parameters, which is why the calibration of the camera should be carried out during the immediate measurement. The results of the sensor investigations show considerable inaccuracies when measuring rotation parameters, especially the compass angle (errors up to 90° were observed). The same applies to position parameters measured by global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receivers built into smartphones. According to the literature, positional accuracies of about 5 m are possible in best conditions. Otherwise, errors of several 10 m are to be expected. As a result, direct georeferencing of image measurements using current smartphone technology should be discouraged. In consideration of the results, the water gauging app Open Water Levels (OWL) was developed, whose methodological development and implementation constituted the core of the thesis project. OWL enables the flexible measurement of water levels via crowdsourcing without requiring additional equipment or being limited to specific river sections. Data acquisition and processing take place directly in the field, so that the water level information is immediately available. In practice, the user captures a short time-lapse sequence of a river bank with OWL, which is used to calculate a spatio-temporal texture that enables the detection of the water line. In order to translate the image measurement into 3D object space, a synthetic, photo-realistic image of the situation is created from existing 3D data of the river section to be investigated. Necessary approximations of the image orientation parameters are measured by smartphone sensors and GNSS. The assignment of camera image and synthetic image allows for the determination of the interior and exterior orientation parameters by means of space resection and finally the transfer of the image-measured 2D water line into the 3D object space to derive the prevalent water level in the reference system of the 3D data. In comparison with conventionally measured water levels, OWL reveals an accuracy potential of 2 cm on average, provided that synthetic image and camera image exhibit consistent image contents and that the water line can be reliably detected. In the present dissertation, related geometric and radiometric problems are comprehensively discussed. Furthermore, possible solutions, based on advancing developments in smartphone technology and image processing as well as the increasing availability of 3D reference data, are presented in the synthesis of the work. The app Open Water Levels, which is currently available as a beta version and has been tested on selected devices, provides a basis, which, with continuous further development, aims to achieve a final release for crowdsourcing water levels towards the establishment of new and the expansion of existing monitoring networks. / Der Begriff des globalen Klimawandels ist seit Beginn des letzten Jahrzehnts allgegenwärtig. Die Veränderung des Weltklimas ist mit einer Zunahme von Starkregenereignissen verbunden, die nahezu unvorhersehbare Sturzfluten verursachen können. Folglich gewinnt die raumzeitlich hochaufgelöste Überwachung von Fließgewässern zunehmend an Bedeutung. Pegelmessstationen erfassen kontinuierlich und präzise Wasserstände, sind jedoch in Anschaffung und Wartung sehr teuer und werden vorzugsweise an wasserwirtschaftlich-relevanten Gewässern installiert. Kleinere Gewässer bleiben häufig unbeobachtet. Um die Datendichte hydrometrischer Messnetze zu erhöhen und somit die Vorhersagequalität von Hochwasserereignissen zu verbessern, sind neue, kostengünstige und flexibel einsetzbare Wasserstandsmesstechnologien erforderlich. Diese sollten sich an den Genauigkeitsanforderungen konventioneller Messsysteme orientieren und die Beobachtung von Wasserständen zu praktisch jedem Zeitpunkt, selbst an den kleinsten Flüssen, ermöglichen. Ein Lösungsvorschlag ist die Entwicklung einer photogrammetrischen Smartphone-Anwendung (App) zum Crowdsourcing von Wasserständen mit welcher freiwillige Nutzer lediglich Bilder eines Flussabschnitts aufnehmen müssen, um daraus den Wasserstand zu bestimmen. Heutige Smartphones integrieren hochauflösende Kameras, eine Vielzahl von Sensoren, leistungsfähige Prozessoren und Massenspeicher. Sie sind jedoch für den Massenmarkt konzipiert und verwenden kostengünstige Hardware, die nicht der Qualität geodätischer Messtechnik entsprechen kann. Um das Einsatzpotential in mobilen Messanwendungen zu eruieren, sind Untersuchungen zum Smartphone als photogrammetrisches Messinstrument im Rahmen des Promotionsprojekts durchgeführt worden. Die Studien befassen sich mit der geometrischen Stabilität von Smartphone-Kameras bezüglich geräteinterner Temperaturänderungen und mit dem Genauigkeitspotential von mit Smartphone-Sensoren gemessenen Rotationsparametern. Die Ergebnisse zeigen eine starke, temperaturbedingte Variabilität der inneren Orientierungsparameter, weshalb die Kalibrierung der Kamera zum unmittelbaren Messzeitpunkt erfolgen sollte. Die Ergebnisse der Sensoruntersuchungen zeigen große Ungenauigkeiten bei der Messung der Rotationsparameter, insbesondere des Kompasswinkels (Fehler von bis zu 90° festgestellt). Selbiges gilt auch für Positionsparameter, gemessen durch in Smartphones eingebaute Empfänger für Signale globaler Navigationssatellitensysteme (GNSS). Wie aus der Literatur zu entnehmen ist, lassen sich unter besten Bedingungen Lagegenauigkeiten von etwa 5 m erreichen. Abseits davon sind Fehler von mehreren 10 m zu erwarten. Infolgedessen ist von einer direkten Georeferenzierung von Bildmessungen mittels aktueller Smartphone-Technologie abzusehen. Unter Berücksichtigung der gewonnenen Erkenntnisse wurde die Pegel-App Open Water Levels (OWL) entwickelt, deren methodische Entwicklung und Implementierung den Kern der Arbeit bildete. OWL ermöglicht die flexible Messung von Wasserständen via Crowdsourcing, ohne dabei zusätzliche Ausrüstung zu verlangen oder auf spezifische Flussabschnitte beschränkt zu sein. Datenaufnahme und Verarbeitung erfolgen direkt im Feld, so dass die Pegelinformationen sofort verfügbar sind. Praktisch nimmt der Anwender mit OWL eine kurze Zeitraffersequenz eines Flussufers auf, die zur Berechnung einer Raum-Zeit-Textur dient und die Erkennung der Wasserlinie ermöglicht. Zur Übersetzung der Bildmessung in den 3D-Objektraum wird aus vorhandenen 3D-Daten des zu untersuchenden Flussabschnittes ein synthetisches, photorealistisches Abbild der Aufnahmesituation erstellt. Erforderliche Näherungen der Bildorientierungsparameter werden von Smartphone-Sensoren und GNSS gemessen. Die Zuordnung von Kamerabild und synthetischem Bild erlaubt die Bestimmung der inneren und äußeren Orientierungsparameter mittels räumlichen Rückwärtsschnitt. Nach Rekonstruktion der Aufnahmesituation lässt sich die im Bild gemessene 2D-Wasserlinie in den 3D-Objektraum projizieren und der vorherrschende Wasserstand im Referenzsystem der 3D-Daten ableiten. Im Soll-Ist-Vergleich mit konventionell gemessenen Pegeldaten zeigt OWL ein erreichbares Genauigkeitspotential von durchschnittlich 2 cm, insofern synthetisches und reales Kamerabild einen möglichst konsistenten Bildinhalt aufweisen und die Wasserlinie zuverlässig detektiert werden kann. In der vorliegenden Dissertation werden damit verbundene geometrische und radiometrische Probleme ausführlich diskutiert sowie Lösungsansätze, auf der Basis fortschreitender Entwicklungen von Smartphone-Technologie und Bildverarbeitung sowie der zunehmenden Verfügbarkeit von 3D-Referenzdaten, in der Synthese der Arbeit vorgestellt. Mit der gegenwärtig als Betaversion vorliegenden und auf ausgewählten Geräten getesteten App Open Water Levels wurde eine Basis geschaffen, die mit kontinuierlicher Weiterentwicklung eine finale Freigabe für das Crowdsourcing von Wasserständen und damit den Aufbau neuer und die Erweiterung bestehender Monitoring-Netzwerke anstrebt.

Registering natural photos to existing 3D surface models, particularly on low-power mobile devices, gathers increasing attention to a variety of application domains. The paper discusses up-to-date computation insights of the technique, condensing available literature and knowledge obtained from experiments across multiple research groups. Challenges like smartphone camera calibration or the sensor-based estimation of location and orientation are current research subjects, for which new data and experimental results are presented. Moreover, computing-related, practical challenges (e.g. device variability) are detailed to increase the technological understanding and reasoning on the limits of mobile devices. An overview of running projects utilising image-to-geometry registration methods shows the potential for mobile devices to, amongst others, improve flood hazard mitigation and hydrocarbon exploration with crowdsourced data.

[pt] Smartphones, tablets ou computadores utilizados para acessar conteúdos de TV não estão adequados aos seus contextos de uso. Por meio de uma pesquisa descritiva, realizou-se uma análise documental em 57 sites e 17 aplicativos, aplicou-se um questionário online com 156 respondestes e realizou-se 25 entrevistas semiestruturadas. Identificaram-se os formatos de conteúdos oferecidos pelas empresas de TV por meio da internet (vídeos, segunda tela, estendidos e temáticos). Também verificou-se que o smartphone está o tempo todo junto ao corpo (é a primeira tela), mas não é propício para o acesso aos conteúdos da televisão (tela pequena, conexão 3G e conteúdos não otimizados). O tablet é pouco usado, pois tem as mesmas funções do smartphone e não é tão portátil (utilizado somente via WiFi). O computador só é usado quando há a necessidade de foco e aprofundamento, geralmente, em atividades relacionadas aos estudos e trabalho. As pessoas ainda preferem acessar os conteúdos diretamente na TV, mas estão assistindo menos da forma tradicional, pois a internet oferece horários flexíveis. Quando assistem televisão da maneira tradicional, não abrem mão da internet ao mesmo tempo (só que em atividades não relacionadas com a TV). A televisão impulsiona o comportamento de uso da internet, mas o contrário não acontece tanto (embora isso ocorra via redes sociais). As pessoas só associam os vídeos aos conteúdos da TV na internet, a segunda tela não emplacou e os conteúdos estendidos ou temáticos não são vistos como de TV. Como resultado final desta pesquisa, são apresentadas algumas sugestões, com a intenção de contribuir para o projeto de interfaces mais adaptadas ao uso humano. / [en] Smartphones, tablets or computers used to access TV content aren t working in their contexts of use. Through an document analysis in 57 sites and 17 applications, an online questionnaire with 156 responses and 25 semi-structured interviews, it was found the content formats offered by TV companies through the internet (videos, second screen, extended and thematic). Also it was found that the smartphone is all the time with the user (it s already the first screen), but it isn t working to access the television content. The uses of tablet is very low, because it has the same functions of the smartphone and isn t portable (used only via WiFi). The computer is only used when people need to focus, usually in activities related to studies and work. People still prefer to access the content directly on the TV set, but are watching less in a traditional way (because the internet offers flexible hours). When watching TV in the traditional way, people use the internet at the same time (but the activities are unrelated with the TV). Television boosts the internet usage behavior, but the opposite almost don t occur (although this occurs via social networks). People only associate the videos to TV content on the internet, the second screen doesn t work and extended or thematic contents aren t seen as TV. Some suggestions are made to improve the interfaces of smartphones, tablets or computers used to access TV content.

The smartphone has become an important part of our daily life. It takes advantage of multiple built-in sensors, along with internet connectivity, to provide a variety of services including navigation, weather forecasts, media capturing/sharing, and many more. The smartphone has become a hub for our social interactions, ranging from traditional voice communications through messaging, to online social networking. There are endless possibilities for a new generation of applications that automatically adapts according to users’ social affinities. The key enabler is to understand the social profile of the user and to realize a Social Proximity Indicator (SPI). This indicator of a user’s social profile includes the user’s location, preferences, common friends, frequent interactions among friends, community membership, and many more attributes. This project addresses the exploitation of the user’s smartphone as a detector of these user’s social contexts in order to infer the social proximity between any 2 (or more) people. The goal of this social proximity indicator is to identify the (current) set of smartphone users that would want to participate in an application specific activity, such as media sharing, group conversation, etc. SPI identifies users based on their social interactions and common preferences. Based on this SPI, a photo sharing application is proposed and built for the Android smartphone platform. This application uses multiple physical and virtual sensors (hosted by the user’s smartphone) to determine the context of the user. After inferring this context, the application initiates photo sharing among an identified group sharing this context. The application, as well as the underlying code, theoretical concepts, and results are presented in this thesis. The experiments conducted during this thesis project indicate that it is feasible to build smartphone based social proximity based applications in which proximity incorporates much more than simply physical location, thus going beyond existing applications. / Smartphone har blivit en viktig del av vårt dagliga liv, som drar nytta av de många inbyggda sensorer, inklusive Internet-anslutning, för att ge en mängd olika tjänster. Däribland navigation, väderprognoser, media fånga/delning, och många fler tjänster. Smartphone har blivit kärnan i våra sociala interaktioner. Den erbjuder allt från traditionella röst kommunikation via meddelanden, till sociala nätverk. Det finns oändliga möjligheter för nästa generationens program som kommer att automatiskt anpassar sig till användarnas sociala tillhörighet. Den viktigaste faktorn är att förstå den sociala profilen av användaren genom att använda ett Socialt Proximity Indikator (SPI). Denna indikator på social profil innehåller användarens läge, inställningar, gemensamma vänner, täta samspel mellan vänner, gemenskap medlemskap, och många fler attribut . Detta projekt behandlar utnyttjandet av användarens smartphone som en detektor av användarens sociala sammanhang för att ansluta sig till social närhet mellan några två (eller fler) personer. Målet med denna indikator är att identifiera den (nuvarande) uppsättning av smartphone-användare som skulle vilja delta i någon applikation specifik aktivitet, till exempel mediedelning, gruppsamtal, etc. SPI identifiera användare baserat på deras sociala interaktioner och gemensamma preferenser. En fotodelnings applikation har föreslagits och byggd för Android smartphone -plattformen, baserad på data från SPI. Denna applikation använder flera fysiska och virtuella sensorer (genom användarens smartphone) för att bestämma ramen för användaren. Efter en analys kommer programmet att initiera fotodelning mellan den identifierade gruppen som hittades i analysen. Applikationen, liksom den underliggande koden ,teoretiska begrepp, och resultaten kommer att presenteras i denna uppsats. Experimenten som genomfördes under detta examensarbete tyder på att det är möjligt att bygga smartphone baserad på SPI där närhet innehåller mycket mer än bara fysisk plats. Det gör applikationen unik än de befintliga applikationer.

Rapid growth in mobile technologies since the 2000s is reflected in continued smartphone adoption and the expansion of mobile health (mHealth) smartphone applications for pain assessment. Yet there exists a lack of research-based pain assessment apps for endometriosis, a prevalent yet underrepresented disorder where pain management plays a vital role. The predominance of the iOS and Android smartphone operating systems has previously required developers to maintain two separate codebases and development environments in order to access a combined 99% market share. Since 2015, cross-platform development softwares have allowed for maintenance of a single codebase and environment. This thesis explores the development of a cross-platform smartphone app for endometriosis pelvic pain assessment where design decisions are informed by endometriosis and pain assessment research as well as engineering particularities of the React Native framework. The completed prototype along with this thesis’ design discussion indicate that research findings into endometriosis pain assessment can be successfully adapted via React Native into a visual, gesture- guided functionality for the self-assessment of endometriosis related pelvic pain. / Den snabba tillväxten inom mobilteknik sedan 2000-talet återspeglas i en fortsatt ökning av smartphone-användare samt utvidgningen av mobilhälsoapplikationer (mHealth) för smärtbedömning. Ändå finns det en brist på forskningsbaserade smärtbedömningsappar för endometrios, en vanlig men underrepresenterad sjukdom där smärtlindring spelar en viktig roll. Övervägande av operativsystemen iOS och Android har tidigare krävt att utvecklare underhåller två separata kodbaser och utvecklingsmiljöer för att få tillgång 99% av marknaden. Sedan 2015 har mjukvaror för plattformsoberoende utveckling av mobilapplikationer möjliggjort underhåll av en enda kodbas och miljö. Denna avhandling undersöker utvecklingen av en plattformsoberoende applikation för smarttelefoner för utvärdering av bäckenvärk relaterade till endometrios, där designbeslut baseras på forskning om endometrios och smärtbedömning samt tekniska särdrag i React Native-ramverket. Den färdiga prototypen tillsammans med avhandlingens designdiskussion indikerar att forskningsresultat kring bedömning av smärta i endometrios kan anpassas via React Native till en visuell, geststyrd funktionalitet för självbedömning av endometriosrelaterad bäckenvärk.