Information in Place
From time immemorial, navigation has been an important aspect of human life – be that finding our way across the Atlantic Ocean aided by a sextant and the stars, or how to get home from the camping trip abroad aided by road signs and trip planning tools such as Triple A's TripTik, European MAP&GUIDE or Danish Krak. But the concepts of navigation and of finding one's way have taken on new meanings. They are no longer used in the sense of moving from A to B as fast as possible. As technology advances, navigating becomes a question of finding friends, cheap petrol, fascinating attractions – and of avoiding traffic congestion.
Maps with live information
Paper-based road maps have always represented fountains of useful information. This is, in fact, the general idea of maps. Maps are visualised information. Just think about the well-known symbols for mountains, rivers, landmarks, exit turns, and restaurants. Such long-life information does not change at short notice. A mixed blessing – for we inevitably run into trouble when our good old road map of France is suddenly revealed as being out-dated because it does not include newly constructed exits, bridges, etc. We run into the same problem when the guide to Istanbul is not updated with information concerning a newly established museum, one-way streets, etc. The coming of the Internet represented an evident opportunity for innovative thinking as regards the marriage between maps and information. All of a sudden it was possible to unite information with the real world – with live information changing in accordance with our needs; information aware of our current context of situation.
This development really gathered momentum with the introduction of the first net-based map services. Among the first to layer digital info on top of the maps we saw Google Maps and Earth, Microsoft MapPoint and NASA World Wind. This gives users a free choice of the information to be displayed. Thus, a hungry citizen of San Francisco's French Quarter can activate the pizza folder and hence the display of the location of every pizza restaurant in the vicinity.
Google Mashup med Forbrygerstyrelsens smileyordning.
www.findvej.dk/smiley
The various map services have increasingly given rise to the creation of user-generated content and, consequently, to the so-called 'mashups' – hybrids combining maps and information where ordinary citizens can remix data – just as a DJ will do it with music. This feasibility is for instance demonstrated by the journalist Declan Butler's map illustrating the rage of the avian flu in Asia, where he has plotted the co-ordinates of every registered occurrence onto the Google Earth's map of the planet. Another such mashup, developed by Danish Peter Brodersen, is a synthesis of the Danish map service Findvej.dk (find your way) and the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration's Smiley-scheme – the latter representing a signal to consumers as to how well a shop or restaurant complies with food regulations. This way it is very easy to ascertain where in the country the not so smiling Smileys are located. Both examples feature the facility of 'visual searching' which is far more understandable and user-friendly than is the case when map and information are two separate entities.
Information finds its way to you
It is, however, one thing to have useful map information displayed on your computer screen. It's something else when the information arrives directly at your current location. And this is where new technologies such as GPS, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi enter the scene. Especially the satellite-based GPS positioning system has interesting perspectives with its myriad of satellites sailing by high up in the air above us registering our every move and exact position. Via our mobile phone we can check not only where we are, but also everything in our immediate vicinity – be that friends, locations or physical objects. There will, in other words, be a fusion of information and context; and this will add an entirely new dimension of perspective and opportunity for an array of trades and businesses.
Just try to imagine that wherever you go there will be a myriad of invisible information hovering high above you. Churches, restaurants, shops, museums, places, and parks – each and every one will have info bubbles floating above them. Such bubbles will be attached to systems of co-ordinates which will only become accessible and visible via mobile phones featuring the GPS application. It could be either restaurants or shops enticing us with bargain prices; or it could be a new art exhibition at the local museum – if not an event in front of the town hall square later in the day.
The information bubbles also contain user-generated content – meaning that we can send content and opinions by way of pictures, video and text which will subsequently be available to anybody with a mobile phone. This information could be anything ranging from a user's frank opinion of a certain restaurant or a pair of sweethearts' comments on the bench where they kissed for the first time, to the considerate warning from a friendly soul about the many pot-holes in the bicycle lane along which you are currently travelling.
"From our current situation where information has to be searched out and downloaded, we are on the verge of a future where the information will search us out and be delivered directly where and when we may need it – but, fortunately, only then."
Geoware is a tool of the future
Where, today, information and situation are still limited to map services on the Net; we will, in the years to come, see location-based services pop up anywhere and in anything. Before long, this will inevitably result in a situation where we consider these new possibilities natural and indispensable everyday tools – similar to SMS and the Internet. From our current situation where information has to be searched out and downloaded, we are on the verge of a future where the information will search out us and be delivered directly where and when we may need it – but, fortunately, only then.
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