Location sharing without the central server

TL;DR

This paper introduces a privacy-preserving location sharing model that operates without a central server by using a distributed database to split location and identity data, implemented as a mobile web app.

Contribution

It presents a novel decentralized location sharing approach that enhances user privacy by avoiding third-party identity disclosure.

Findings

Effective separation of location and identity data

Implementation as a mobile web application

Enhanced privacy in location sharing systems

Abstract

This paper describes a new model for sharing location info for mobile users. This approach can operate without the need for disclosing identity info to third party servers. It could be described as a safe location sharing model. The proposed approach creates a special form of distributed database that splits location info and identity information. In this distributed data store identity info is always saved locally. It eliminates one of the main concerns with location-based systems - privacy. This paper describes a model itself as well as its implementation in the form of HTML5 mobile web application.