The Use of Design Patterns in a Location-Based GPS Application

The development of location-based systems and applications presents a number of challenges – including those of designing and developing for a range of heterogeneous mobile device types, the associated spectrum of programming languages, and the incorporation of spatial concepts into applied software solutions. This paper addresses these challenges by presenting a harmonised approach to the construction of GPS location based applications that is based on Design Patterns. The context of location-based systems is presented, followed by several design patterns - including the Observer and Bridge Design Patterns, which are described and applied to the application. Finally the benefits of using Design Patterns in this framework-oriented approach are discussed and future related work in the area of systems design for mobile applications is outlined.