NAMGIS – A Context-Aware Mobile Web GIS Maria A. Brovelli 1 , Diego Magni 1 , Maurizio Brioschi 2 , Massimo Legnani 2 , Francesco Corcoglioniti 2 1 DIIAR – Politecnico di Milano / Polo Regionale di Como – Via Valleggio 11, 22100 Como e-mail: maria.brovelli,diego.magni@polimi.it 2 CEFRIEL (Center of Excellence For Research, Innovation, Education and industrial Labs partnership) Via Fucini 2, 20133 Milano – e-mail: brioschi,legnani,corcoglioniti@cefriel.it Abstract We present NAMGIS (Nomadic Adaptive Mobile GIS), an open-source location- and context- aware mobile Web GIS especially targeted at small screen and CPU limited handheld devices. NAMGIS is composed of NAMGIS Core and SAF. NAMGIS Core is the mobile GIS, which builds on top of MapServer and provides an internationalized, context-adaptable Web interface supporting principal GIS functionalities, such as map browsing (e.g. zoom, pan), feature and attribute based queries, layer selection with dynamic legend, scalebar and reference map. SAF (Situation Aware Framework) is the context-aware framework that supports the acquisition and elaboration of context data, including GPS data, used to track the user's position in real time and adapt the contrast/brilliance level of the interface in outdoor scenarios, and RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) data, used to detect the proximity of the user with relevant features equipped with RFID tags (e.g. archaeological finds). These two components can also be used independently and are both released with an open source license (LGPL for SAF, GPL for NAMGIS Core). NAMGIS is being developed within the ongoing "ArcheoMedSat" Italian research project, aimed at exploiting informative and geomatics technologies to explore archaeological contexts. In this paper, we present the architecture of NAMGIS as well as the preliminary results of an on-field evaluation of NAMGIS within the Comum Oppidum and Meta Sudans Italian archaeological sites. 1 Introduction This paper describes NAMGIS, a context-aware, client-server mobile Web GIS. Mobile GIS refers to the access and use of GIS data functions through mobile and wireless devices, such as laptop computers, PDAs and smart phones (Peng et al, 2003). The use of mobile devices, characterized by inferior performances (CPU, memory), connectivity (latency, bandwidth, reliability) and usability (small screen, uncomfortable input controls), limits the functionalities of mobile GIS with respect to traditional GIS. Nevertheless, these systems provide end users with mobility and with a richer experience, by allowing them to explore the representation of a territory while moving in the territory itself (Magni, 2008). Typical mobile GIS users are fieldworkers and users of location-based services