Contextual Uses of Location
I’ve been a Location-Based Services (LBS) enthusiast for a while—at least conceptually. I’m sure a lot of that enthusiasm starts with my history as a navigator in the navy. I used multiple forms of positioning – from “shooting” stars, sun lines, and moon lines to visual line of bearings to advancing dead reckoning lines to RADAR ranges to plotting coordinates from GPS. These positions were plotted on paper charts of varying scales and projections, grease penciled on to a RADAR scope, entered into the ship’s computer system to be transformed into data for all the necessary operational services, etc. Absolute and relative position (where relative can mean a host of things), along with time, are some of the most critical data points for any military unit. All the “services” units provide are beholden to this data.
The key in all of this, especially when it comes to mapping or visualizing location data, is the context of use. A GigaOM post started off this chain of thinking this morning. I think about context because all of the mapping services discussed in the post, including Google API’s, etc, are concentrating more on the data imposed on the maps, rather than the context of use. This same thinking is limiting LBS in the broader sense. While child finding, friend radar, and routing are interesting and useful services, they aren’t really context specific.
When I talk about context, however, I’m talking about it in a different way than Ferhenbacher. She states:
But set apart from those real-time mobile tracking applications, geotagging is a more subtle way to leverage location as a way to share content or connect with a community. Location is the context, not the end goal.
Location definitely provides a piece of context – but is far from BEING context. I’m not sure the killer LBS or apps are going to be about sharing content or connecting with a community. LBS of that ilk will be incremental at best. I think true innovation will be much more context specific.
I’ll lay out the elements of where that might go in the full post (follow the link below).
Some rough notes so far.
What distinguishes maps?
Projection: how are they created? How well do they reflect reality?
Context/use: What is the map for? There is a photo and map display… but other than that they are all the same except for scale. Do the map features change based on context? Does scale imply some level of context?
Use patterns:
Routing and Wayfinding. I need to know where I currently am in relation to where I want to go. I then want to be guided there at the right frequency to ensure I get there but the not in an obtrusive fashion.
Understanding and Meaning. I want to understand a place, geography, etc. I want to understand people, the world, etc better. I need the right scale, legend, map components, data, etc, to provide the understanding in a clear and information-rich way.
Discovery and Exploration. I want to find new things, hidden things, things special to me. I want to make novel or more useful connections between places, things, spaces, meanings, people.
Coordination and Planning. I want to find easier ways to get to where I want to go, meet who I want to meet, do what I want to do, and see what I’d like to see… optimized along the vectors most important to me – time, ease, safety, excitement, leisure, etc.