Students at Johannes Kepler University in Linz, Austria, no longer have to waste time looking for lecture halls or trying to locate friends using cell phones. That’s because they live on a “Smart Information Campus,” which means they always have access to information about the things they need to know at the university. What makes this possible is a technology known as Digital Graffiti that was developed by Prof. Gustav Pomberger (above) and coworkers at the University in cooperation with Siemens CT. Digital Graffiti combines text, sound, and image messages in a comprehensive information and localization system that stores such messages as virtual graffiti that is accessible by means of a cell phone, PDA or laptop. WLAN access points have been installed both indoors and outdoors throughout the entire campus. A server transmits and receives news and messages to and from the access points and is also capable of localizing the position of each point. As soon as the server recognizes that a registered user is on campus, it sends personalized content (messages, relevant information) to his or her terminal. Users can define what type of information they wish to receive and for which individuals they wish to remain “virtually visible.” Students can get a message via their PDAs that a lecture has been moved to another hall — or that the nearest coffee machine is right around the corner from them.

Users can also write their own graffiti and have it transmitted to, and stored at, a specific access point. These messages become visible to their addressees as soon as the latter enter a predefined radius around the access point. Digital Graffiti is a location-based service that can be used in many different areas, including logistics and tourism. For example, scientists from Siemens and the university have also installed a virtual museum guide based on the same principle in the State Museum in Linz. The system guides visitors through the museum via PDA, providing information in the form of texts, images, voice output, and Web links.