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This document describes the current status and future visions of roaming and locating users in science networks. At first it is described how roaming on network level can be accomplished by establishing a RADIUS-based roaming hierarchy, with a special focus on possible transport mechanisms for a user’s location information. Afterwards, possibilities to build location-aware services for scientists on top of this existing roaming infrastructure are outlined.

In this paper we identify the common techniques and technologies that are enabling location identification in a ubiquitous computing environment. We also address the important parameters for evaluating such systems. Through this survey, we explore the current trends in commercial products and research in the area of localization. Although localization is an old concept, further research is needed to make it really usable for ubiquitous computing. Therefore, we indicate future research directions and address localization in the framework of our Smart Surroundings project.

The realisation of ubiquitous in- and out-door location awareness needs the exploration of scaleable hybrid solutions that can utilize existing infrastructures in novel and complimentary ways. Our hybrid solution (BlueStar) incorporates mobile terminals (GSM smart phones) with a two-phase approach to location awareness, using existing infrastructure. The first phase relies on a network based signal measurement (timing advance) and cell id. In the second phase the mobile terminal “sniffs” for the identification of local wireless devices, which act as “beacons”, in the environment. The mobile terminal does not connect to the beacons; it simple detects their presence. The aim is to offer a privacy enhanced yet flexible indoor/outdoor location management scheme, which allows for only the end-user to be aware of their fine-grained location data. A working example of our BlueStar system is presented along with a preliminary user study of “InfoHoard” a BlueStar game, in an indoor testing environment.