Mainstream electronic devices such as the iPhone and the iPod Touch have finally introduced web browsing on the move. With this has come a rise in demand for increasingly location based information, linked to a map with pointers to what’s currently around us. Perhaps more than any other time we feel connected wherever we go in the city.
Being truly connected for the first time using a device that also allows us to play our albums, watch the BBC show we recorded the night before while sitting on the 168 from Camden Town is a good thing but to be honest its not enough. Although connected to the world via a web browser we feel strangely disconnected from the city itself.
This lack of connection to the city around us is disconcerting, where are the hotspots in shops offering details on the goods in-store or the latest offers? Why at the bus stop can’t we access a feed detailing the time before the ride is due? Why when entering a department store is it not possible to download a floor plan and check the stock, or finally, when viewing a planning permission on the lamp post why are we unable to pull up an augmented view of the site as planned along with a comment form. The questions are endless and ultimately the conclusion is that we are merely at the start of a connected city.
The problem is not of course WiFi coverage, most large urban areas have their own providers with costs increasingly being kept down by a crowded market. At the moment perhaps it is a lack of foresight on the retailer’s part or a lack of demand. Of note is Apple’s free Internet access in their stores, this should be celebrated but in reality results in users popping in to check their email or their bid status on eBay rather than a ability to access information about the locality.
At the heart of the argument is the desire for information, to be part of a wired society and to feel connected to the city not only on social and retail level but also architecturally. We want to be able to walk past listed buildings and to tap into local information existing at that location. It comes down to not connecting to the globe or even connecting to information via RFID tags or Bluetooth but local clouds of information.
Technology moves on at an ever increasing rate, the new iPhone is due to be announced imminently with rumors of included GPS and 3G capabilities. GPS in a mobile device changes things considerably as the device knows where I am and this is crucial to location based information. The Nokia N95 was the first on the market with a GPS enabled phone but with its small screen and slightly clunky interface it didn’t quite make it in the usability stakes.
The ability to stream in information on a GPS enabled phone would mean being able to finally connect to the city. It would enable access to spatial information at a sub meter scale and that must be something to look forward to – or is it just me?
No, I’m with you. But then I tend to explore my city a lot more than most people.
I often read reviews or articles about a place and think ‘Oo, I’ll have to remember to give that a visit next time I’m in that part of town’. In the same way you can increasingly ‘Add to Facebook/Digg etc.’, wouldn’t it be good if you could add an article’s geographic information to a personalised map of ‘must-sees’. Then, the GPS on my portable device would remind me whenever I’m in walking distance of one of the place I’ve read about.
In Vancouver you can text the number of your bus stop (displayed on the sign) to the transit authority, and they send you back the scheduled arrival times of the next 3 busees. That’s pretty awesome really.
TUAW have just put up a good article on location based services – they state that:
’We’re sitting at the edge of a location-based computing revolution, and the iPhone is pulling us there. From our pockets’.
London Transport knows the location of all its buses but sadly wont share the data for ‘security reasons’ (no i cant think of any either) so sadly we are not as advanced as Vancouver but we are certainly moving into a location aware world :)
Andy – I got an iPhone a few months back and am in loooooove with it. Now I hear the new version will have GPS built in. Am I going to be left behind with all this geo stuff, or will the original iPhone still be very useful for location-based services?
Matt – I have a iPhone as well and its one of the few gadgets that has lived up to the hype.
June 9th looks like the launch day for a GPS enabled iPhone at which point the old iphone becomes about as useful as a door stop in terms of location based services.
Such is the price of being at the edge of consumer technology.. mind you the Guardian ran an article on how the new iPhone wont have GPS so who knows..