Privacy protected query processing with Road Network Embedding

Location-based applications are becoming increasingly popular due to the wide spread of global positioning devices. One major concern in location-based applications is how to protect user privacy. A typical solution consists of three tiers: mobile users, trusted anonymizer, and service provider. The trusted anonymizer first needs to cloak the queries received from mobile users, then sends the cloaked queries to the service provider. The service provider then answers the cloaked query, which is a challenge if the underlying environment is a road network. In this paper, we propose to use Road Network Embedding (RNE) to answer cloaked queries in a road network environment. We first give an algorithm to answer k-nearest neighbor queries, then extend the algorithm to answer range queries and queries over private objects. Extensive simulation studies are preformed to show the effectiveness of the proposed technique.