Retrieval Optimization for Server-Based Repositories in Location-Based Mobile Commerce

Location-based mobile commerce (LBMC) incorporates location-aware technologies, wire-free connectivity, and server-based repositories of business locations to support the processing of location-referent transactions (LRTs) between businesses and mobile consumers. LRTs are transactions in which the location of a business in relation to a consumer’s actual or anticipated location is a material transactional factor. Providing adequate support for LRTs requires the timely resolution of queries bearing transaction-related locational criteria. The research reported here evaluates and extends the author’s location-aware method (LAM) of resolving LRT-related queries. The results obtained reveal LAM’s query resolution behavior in a variety of simulated LBMC circumstances and confirm the method’s potential to improve the timeliness of transactional support to mobile consumers. The article also identifies and evaluates a heuristic useful in maintaining optimal query resolution performance as changes occur in the scale and scope of server-based repositories.