Smart Eco-path Finder for Mobile GIS Users.

The increasing popularity of the Internet and user-friendly Web-based GIS applications such as Google Maps/Earth and Microsoft Bing Maps Platform have made GIS an integral part of life today for finding the nearest facilities, driving routes, and so on. However, choosing an ecofriendly walking route is a big challenge for local residents because of the lack of GIS analytical functions and environmental data available online. Although analysis of route paths has been widely used in GIS applications, the integration of green factors with the analysis of the route path is still lacking in the GIS arena. In this paper, we have presented an integrated methodology, remote sensing, GIS and spatial Web technology, for identifying an ecofriendly walking route (Smart Eco-path Finder) by providing Web-based GIS analytical functions using Tsukuba City in Japan as a case study. This Web-based, ecofriendly route pathfinder enables users to choose a walking route for green exercise by using their smartphones or ultramobile PCs (UMPCs). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]