Overview
Mobility has become an important part of our daily life, but caused by numerous challenges the development of mobile applications in the sense of location-aware or location based services for mobile devices is complex and time-consuming. Additionally, when developing mobile applications, it can often be observed that some functionalities are required in most cases. These are for example location determination and map display as well as presentation of points of interest and multimedia contents. Based on this observation the Open Source software platform Companion was designed and realized which provides these basic functionalities as independent modules together with a pre-defined architecture and framework.
The reusability of existing modules allows developers to realize their application ideas much faster, because they do not have to re-implement often used functions and a significant part of the difficult development for mobile devices is covered by Companion. Developers can use the modules as building blocks for the construction of their own mobile applications an top of the framework. Thus, a new application can be created by simply assembling existing building blocks and by adding new application specific functions via new modules. E.g., several hiking guide applications are developed and based on this concept and the Companion platform. This building block concept allows for flexibility, extensibility and adaptability. If new future requirements arise, they can be easily integrated in the existing system. The currently used modules can be modified or substituted by new ones which meet the new requirements.
