| Abstract: | GIS applications to mobile devices are becoming increasingly popular, utilizing a di-verserange of devices. Many of these devices suffer from serious constraints in three main areas: processor speed, memory space and screen size. This paper presents a GIS application, called "MacauMap", that is intended for heavily resource-constrained handheld devices. MacauMap is a tourism-oriented map application of the Macau territory for PalmOS and Pocket PC personal digital assistants. It was designed to perform satisfactorily on devices with as little as 16 MHz processor speed, and requires only 500 KB available memory for the GIS application and all GIS data. Memory requirements are kept low through a specially designed data format. The main challenge of satisfactory map drawing speed is addressed through a variety of techniques that were developed for this application. The paper describes the application's data format, outlines the map drawing techniques, and points out the areas for future development. |
