Universal Access to Personalised Information Services

The evolution of the mobile communication systems is paving the way towards the development of new information services. At present Location Based Services (LBS) are gaining momentum since they allow the provision of mobile users with information related at their positions that, therefore, can help them on the move. The access to an information system is complicated by the fact that the access terminals and technologies may be heterogeneous. For instance, we can use mobile terminals with different displays, computation capabilities, access techniques (and, therefore, available bit-rate), software and so on. The user must be able to access the services not only by using a common personal computer at home, but also by means of its cellular phone (during a trip) or a personal digital assistant, in a totally transparent and seamless way. Accordingly, the provision of personalised services anywhere and anytime requires that the information system be adaptable and scalable, depending on the access technologies, terminal characteristics and user preferences. It is therefore very important that the system, for instance, be able to understand the characteristics of the technology adopted by the user to access the service, in order to adapt the content format and its presentation. Aim of this paper is to present some preliminary studies related to the Personalised Access to Local Information and services for tOurists (PALIO-IST 20656) project. In particular, it is described the undertaken technical approach for the development of an LBS service, accessible through different network technologies and client terminals.