GeoChat on iPhone : A Map-based Chat Application on iPhone

Abstract: Mobile applications, which have been widely used, are influencing our daily lives more and more deeply. A considerable number of advanced technologies and innovative experiments are being undertaken by developers in order to bring more convenience and enjoyment to people. One of the hot investigations in mobile applications is map based services for smart phones. This thesis will address the implementation of a map-based chat application for iPhone subscribers named GeoChat, which has been previously developed using Java ME. As implied by the name, a user can search and join chat rooms on geographical locations, and talk with the others who are interested in this location too. A user is also allowed to create chat rooms and propose topics for the places according to his or her preferences. Since the development of iPhone application is not as fledged as that of Java ME, a comparison between the development processes of iPhone SDK and Java ME will be presented after introducing the implementation procedure of GeoChat on iPhone, through which we can learn advantages from these two development platforms and achieve more with less effort in the future.