Locative media
Encyclopedia
Locative media or Location-based media are media
of communication functionally bound to a location. The physical implementation of locative media however is not bound to the same location to which the content refers.
Location-based media (LBM) delivers multimedia
and other content
directly to the user of a mobile device dependent upon their location. Location information determined by means such as mobile phone tracking
and other emerging Real-time locating system
technologies like Wi-Fi
or RFID can be used to customize media content presented on the device. The term was jointly coined at the 2004 Consumer Electronics Show by Tom Brammar, the then Chief Executive of Node, and Martin Hill, founder of the Product Management function and practices at Symbian, and wireless pioneer.
Locative media are digital media
applied to real places and thus triggering real social interactions. While mobile technologies such as the Global Positioning System
(GPS), laptop computers and mobile phone
s enable locative media, they are not the goal for the development of projects in this field.
coordinate-based triggers applied to each media sequence. As the location-aware device enters the selected area, centralized services trigger the assigned media, designed to be of optimal relevance to the user and their surroundings.
Location based media allows for the enhancement of any given environment offering explanation, analysis and detailed commentary on what the user is looking at through a combination of video
, audio
, image
s and text
. The location-aware device can deliver interpretation of cities, parklands, heritage sites, sporting events or any other environment where location based media is required.
The content production and pre-production are integral to the overall experience that is created and must have been performed with ultimate consideration of the location and the users position within that location. The media offers a depth to the environment beyond that which is immediately apparent, allowing revelations about background, history and current topical feeds.
(reality overlaid with virtual reality) and pervasive computing (computers everywhere, as in ubiquitous computing
). Whereas augmented reality strives for technical solutions, and pervasive computing is interested in embedded computers, locative media concentrates on social interaction with a place and with technology. Many locative media projects have a social, critical or personal (memory) background.
While strictly spoken, any kind of link to additional information set up in space (together with the information that a specific place supplies) would make up location-dependent media, the term locative media is strictly bound to technical projects. Locative media works on locations and yet many of its applications are still location-independent in a technical sense. As in the case of digital media
, where the medium itself is not digital
but the content is digital, in locative media the medium itself might not be location-oriented, whereas the content is location-oriented.
Japanese mobile phone culture
embraces location-dependent information and context-awareness. It is projected that in the near future locative media will develop to a significant factor in everyday life.
(GPS), laptop computers, the mobile phone
, Geographic Information System
(GIS), Google Maps
. Whereas GPS allows for the accurate detection of a specific location, mobile computers allow interactive media
to be linked to this place. The GIS supplies arbitrary information about the geological, strategic or economic situation of a location. Google Maps give a visual representation of a specific place. Another important new technology that links digital data to a specific place is radio-frequency identification (RFID), a successor to barcode
s like Semacode
.
Research that contributes to the field of locative media happens in fields such as pervasive computing, context awareness
and mobile technology
. The technological background of locative media is sometimes referred to as "location-aware computing".
A prominent use of locative media is in locative art. A sub-category of interactive art
or new media art
, locative art explores the relationships between the real world and the virtual or between people, places or objects in the real world.
Notable locative media projects include Bio Mapping by Christian Nold in 2004, locative art projects such as the SpacePlace ZKM/ZKMax bluecasting and participatory urban media access in Munich in 2005 and Britglyph
by Alfie Dennen
in 2009, and location-based games such as AR Quake by the Wearable Computer Lab at the University of South Australia
and Can You See Me Now?
in 2001 by Blast Theory
in collaboration with the Mixed Reality Lab at the University of Nottingham
. In 2005 the Silicon Valley based collaborators of C5 first exhibited the C5 Landscape Initiative, a suite of four GPS inspired projects that investigate perception of landscape in light of locative media.
In William Gibson
's novel Spook Country
, locative art is one of the main themes and set pieces in the story.
Narrative projects which engage with locative media are sometimes referred to as Location-Aware Fiction, as explored in "Data and Narrative: Location Aware Fiction" a 2003 essay by Kate Armstrong
.
The Transborder Immigrant Tool by the Electronic Disturbance Theater
is a locative media project aimed at providing life saving directions to water for people trying to cross the US/Mexico border. The project attracted global media attention in 2009 and 2010. Articles included an LA Times cover story focusing on Ricardo Dominguez and an AP story interviewing Micha Cárdenas
and Brett Stalbaum. The articles focused on concerns over the legality of the project and the ensuing investigations of the group, which are still underway. The Transborder Immigrant Tool has recently been included in a number of major exhibitions including Here, Not There at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego
and the 2010 California Biennial at the Orange County Museum of Art
.
Electronic media
Electronic media are media that use electronics or electromechanical energy for the end-user to access the content. This is in contrast to static media , which today are most often created electronically, but don't require electronics to be accessed by the end-user in the printed form...
of communication functionally bound to a location. The physical implementation of locative media however is not bound to the same location to which the content refers.
Location-based media (LBM) delivers multimedia
Multimedia
Multimedia is media and content that uses a combination of different content forms. The term can be used as a noun or as an adjective describing a medium as having multiple content forms. The term is used in contrast to media which use only rudimentary computer display such as text-only, or...
and other content
Content
Content or contents may refer to:* Contentment, a state of being* Content , the highest common factor of a polynomial's coefficients* Content , an additive real function defined on a field of sets...
directly to the user of a mobile device dependent upon their location. Location information determined by means such as mobile phone tracking
Mobile phone tracking
Mobile phone tracking refers to the attaining of the current position of a mobile phone, stationary or moving. Localization may occur either via multilateration of radio signals between radio towers of the network and the phone, or simply via GPS...
and other emerging Real-time locating system
Real-time locating system
Real-time locating systems are a type of local positioning system that allow to track and identify the location of objects in real time. Using simple, inexpensive badges or tags attached to the objects, readers receive wireless signals from these tags to determine their locations...
technologies like Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi or Wifi, is a mechanism for wirelessly connecting electronic devices. A device enabled with Wi-Fi, such as a personal computer, video game console, smartphone, or digital audio player, can connect to the Internet via a wireless network access point. An access point has a range of about 20...
or RFID can be used to customize media content presented on the device. The term was jointly coined at the 2004 Consumer Electronics Show by Tom Brammar, the then Chief Executive of Node, and Martin Hill, founder of the Product Management function and practices at Symbian, and wireless pioneer.
Locative media are digital media
Digital media
Digital media is a form of electronic media where data is stored in digital form. It can refer to the technical aspect of storage and transmission Digital media is a form of electronic media where data is stored in digital (as opposed to analog) form. It can refer to the technical aspect of...
applied to real places and thus triggering real social interactions. While mobile technologies such as the Global Positioning System
Global Positioning System
The Global Positioning System is a space-based global navigation satellite system that provides location and time information in all weather, anywhere on or near the Earth, where there is an unobstructed line of sight to four or more GPS satellites...
(GPS), laptop computers and mobile phone
Mobile phone
A mobile phone is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator...
s enable locative media, they are not the goal for the development of projects in this field.
Description
For example: Media content is managed and organized externally of the device on a standard desktop, laptop, server, or cloud computing system. The device then downloads this formatted content with GPS or other RTLSRTLS
RTLS may refer to:* Real-time locating system - general techniques for asset and staff tracking using wireless hardware and real-time software* Ravenna Training and Logistics Site - an Ohio Army National Guard base....
coordinate-based triggers applied to each media sequence. As the location-aware device enters the selected area, centralized services trigger the assigned media, designed to be of optimal relevance to the user and their surroundings.
Location based media allows for the enhancement of any given environment offering explanation, analysis and detailed commentary on what the user is looking at through a combination of video
Video
Video is the technology of electronically capturing, recording, processing, storing, transmitting, and reconstructing a sequence of still images representing scenes in motion.- History :...
, audio
Sound
Sound is a mechanical wave that is an oscillation of pressure transmitted through a solid, liquid, or gas, composed of frequencies within the range of hearing and of a level sufficiently strong to be heard, or the sensation stimulated in organs of hearing by such vibrations.-Propagation of...
, image
Image
An image is an artifact, for example a two-dimensional picture, that has a similar appearance to some subject—usually a physical object or a person.-Characteristics:...
s and text
Writing
Writing is the representation of language in a textual medium through the use of a set of signs or symbols . It is distinguished from illustration, such as cave drawing and painting, and non-symbolic preservation of language via non-textual media, such as magnetic tape audio.Writing most likely...
. The location-aware device can deliver interpretation of cities, parklands, heritage sites, sporting events or any other environment where location based media is required.
The content production and pre-production are integral to the overall experience that is created and must have been performed with ultimate consideration of the location and the users position within that location. The media offers a depth to the environment beyond that which is immediately apparent, allowing revelations about background, history and current topical feeds.
Locative, ubiquitous and pervasive computing
The term 'locative media' was coined by Karlis Kalnins. Locative media is closely related to augmented realityAugmented reality
Augmented reality is a live, direct or indirect, view of a physical, real-world environment whose elements are augmented by computer-generated sensory input such as sound, video, graphics or GPS data. It is related to a more general concept called mediated reality, in which a view of reality is...
(reality overlaid with virtual reality) and pervasive computing (computers everywhere, as in ubiquitous computing
Ubiquitous computing
Ubiquitous computing is a post-desktop model of human-computer interaction in which information processing has been thoroughly integrated into everyday objects and activities. In the course of ordinary activities, someone "using" ubiquitous computing engages many computational devices and systems...
). Whereas augmented reality strives for technical solutions, and pervasive computing is interested in embedded computers, locative media concentrates on social interaction with a place and with technology. Many locative media projects have a social, critical or personal (memory) background.
While strictly spoken, any kind of link to additional information set up in space (together with the information that a specific place supplies) would make up location-dependent media, the term locative media is strictly bound to technical projects. Locative media works on locations and yet many of its applications are still location-independent in a technical sense. As in the case of digital media
Digital media
Digital media is a form of electronic media where data is stored in digital form. It can refer to the technical aspect of storage and transmission Digital media is a form of electronic media where data is stored in digital (as opposed to analog) form. It can refer to the technical aspect of...
, where the medium itself is not digital
Digital
A digital system is a data technology that uses discrete values. By contrast, non-digital systems use a continuous range of values to represent information...
but the content is digital, in locative media the medium itself might not be location-oriented, whereas the content is location-oriented.
Japanese mobile phone culture
Japanese mobile phone culture
In Japan, mobile phones have become ubiquitous. In Japanese, mobile phones are called keitai denwa , literally "portable telephones," and are often known simply as keitai....
embraces location-dependent information and context-awareness. It is projected that in the near future locative media will develop to a significant factor in everyday life.
Enabling technologies
Locative media projects use technology such as Global Positioning SystemGlobal Positioning System
The Global Positioning System is a space-based global navigation satellite system that provides location and time information in all weather, anywhere on or near the Earth, where there is an unobstructed line of sight to four or more GPS satellites...
(GPS), laptop computers, the mobile phone
Mobile phone
A mobile phone is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator...
, Geographic Information System
Geographic Information System
A geographic information system, geographical information science, or geospatial information studies is a system designed to capture, store, manipulate, analyze, manage, and present all types of geographically referenced data...
(GIS), Google Maps
Google Maps
Google Maps is a web mapping service application and technology provided by Google, free , that powers many map-based services, including the Google Maps website, Google Ride Finder, Google Transit, and maps embedded on third-party websites via the Google Maps API...
. Whereas GPS allows for the accurate detection of a specific location, mobile computers allow interactive media
Interactive media
Interactive media normally refers to products and services on digital computer-based systems which respond to the user’s actions by presenting content such as text, graphics, animation, video, audio, etc.-Terminology:...
to be linked to this place. The GIS supplies arbitrary information about the geological, strategic or economic situation of a location. Google Maps give a visual representation of a specific place. Another important new technology that links digital data to a specific place is radio-frequency identification (RFID), a successor to barcode
Barcode
A barcode is an optical machine-readable representation of data, which shows data about the object to which it attaches. Originally barcodes represented data by varying the widths and spacings of parallel lines, and may be referred to as linear or 1 dimensional . Later they evolved into rectangles,...
s like Semacode
Semacode
Semacode is a software company based in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. It is also this company's trade name for machine-readable ISO/IEC 16022 data matrix symbols, a type of barcode resembling a crossword puzzle, which encode Internet URLs....
.
Research that contributes to the field of locative media happens in fields such as pervasive computing, context awareness
Context awareness
Context awareness is defined complementary to location awareness. Whereas location may serve as a determinant for resident processes, context may be applied more flexibly with mobile computing with any moving entities, especially with bearers of smart communicators...
and mobile technology
Mobile technology
Mobile technology is a collective term used to describe the various types of cellular communication technology. Mobile CDMA technology has evolved quite rapidly over the past few years...
. The technological background of locative media is sometimes referred to as "location-aware computing".
Examples
Design scholars Anne Galloway and Matt Ward state that "various online lists of pervasive computing and locative media projects draw out the breadth of current classification schema: everything from mobile games, place-based storytelling, spatial annotation and networked performances to device-specific applications."A prominent use of locative media is in locative art. A sub-category of interactive art
Interactive art
Interactive art is a form of installation-based art that involves the spectator in a way that allows the art to achieve its purpose. Some installations achieve this by letting the observer or visitor "walk" in, on, and around them; Some others ask the artist to become part of the artwork.Works of...
or new media art
New media art
New media art is a genre that encompasses artworks created with new media technologies, including digital art, computer graphics, computer animation, virtual art, Internet art, interactive art, computer robotics, and art as biotechnology...
, locative art explores the relationships between the real world and the virtual or between people, places or objects in the real world.
Notable locative media projects include Bio Mapping by Christian Nold in 2004, locative art projects such as the SpacePlace ZKM/ZKMax bluecasting and participatory urban media access in Munich in 2005 and Britglyph
Britglyph
Britglyph was a collaborative locative art and Geoglyph project created by Alfie Dennen for ShoZu which took place between December 2008 and March 2009. Participants were instructed to travel to specific locations across the United Kingdom with a rock or stone taken from near where they live...
by Alfie Dennen
Alfie Dennen
Alfie Dennen is a British creative technologist, Artist, and founder of several prominent websites based around mobile blogging.- Projects :Dennen co-founded the mobile blogging platform Moblog, formerly MoblogUK, in November 2003...
in 2009, and location-based games such as AR Quake by the Wearable Computer Lab at the University of South Australia
University of South Australia
The University of South Australia is a public university in the Australian state of South Australia. It was formed in 1991 with the merger of the South Australian Institute of Technology and Colleges of Advanced Education. It is the largest university in South Australia, with more than 36,000...
and Can You See Me Now?
Can You See Me Now?
Can You See Me Now? is an urban chase game developed by and the . Performers on the streets of a city use handheld computers, GPS and walkie talkies to chase online players who move their avatars through a virtual model of the same town....
in 2001 by Blast Theory
Blast Theory
Blast Theory is a Brighton-based artists’ group, whose work mixes interactive media, digital broadcasting and live performance.-Biography:The group was founded in 1991 by Matt Adams, Niki Jewett, Will Kittow and Ju Row Farr. The group is currently led by Matt Adams, Ju Row Farr and Nick...
in collaboration with the Mixed Reality Lab at the University of Nottingham
University of Nottingham
The University of Nottingham is a public research university based in Nottingham, United Kingdom, with further campuses in Ningbo, China and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia...
. In 2005 the Silicon Valley based collaborators of C5 first exhibited the C5 Landscape Initiative, a suite of four GPS inspired projects that investigate perception of landscape in light of locative media.
In William Gibson
William Gibson
William Gibson is an American-Canadian science fiction author.William Gibson may also refer to:-Association football:*Will Gibson , Scottish footballer...
's novel Spook Country
Spook Country
Spook Country is a 2007 novel by speculative fiction author William Gibson. A political thriller set in contemporary North America, it followed on from the author's previous novel, Pattern Recognition , and was succeeded in 2010 by Zero History, which featured much of its core cast of characters...
, locative art is one of the main themes and set pieces in the story.
Narrative projects which engage with locative media are sometimes referred to as Location-Aware Fiction, as explored in "Data and Narrative: Location Aware Fiction" a 2003 essay by Kate Armstrong
Kate Armstrong
Kate Armstrong is a Canadian artist, writer and curator with a history of projects focusing on experimental literary practices, networks and public space.-Biography:...
.
The Transborder Immigrant Tool by the Electronic Disturbance Theater
Electronic Disturbance Theater
Ricardo Dominguez, Brett Stalbaum, Stefan Wray, and Carmin Karasic are collectively known as The Electronic Disturbance Theater or EDT for short. Taking the idea of the American Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, the EDT members always used their real names. They never concealed their identities...
is a locative media project aimed at providing life saving directions to water for people trying to cross the US/Mexico border. The project attracted global media attention in 2009 and 2010. Articles included an LA Times cover story focusing on Ricardo Dominguez and an AP story interviewing Micha Cárdenas
Micha Cárdenas
Micha Cárdenas is a transgender performance and new media artist. Her work deals with the interplay of technology, gender, sex, immigration and biopolitics. She currently lives and works in Los Angeles.- Education :...
and Brett Stalbaum. The articles focused on concerns over the legality of the project and the ensuing investigations of the group, which are still underway. The Transborder Immigrant Tool has recently been included in a number of major exhibitions including Here, Not There at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego
Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego
The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego , in San Diego, California, USA, is an art museum focused on the collection, preservation, exhibition, and interpretation of works of art from 1950 to the present.-History:...
and the 2010 California Biennial at the Orange County Museum of Art
Orange County Museum of Art
The Orange County Museum of Art is a museum located in Newport Beach, California.The museum's collection comprises more than 3,000 objects, with a concentration on the art of California from the early 20th century to present...
.
See also
- Location-based media
- Location-based serviceLocation-based serviceA Location-Based Service is an information or entertainment service, accessible with mobile devices through the mobile network and utilizing the ability to make use of the geographical position of the mobile device....
- Location-based gameLocation-based gameA location-based game is one in which the game play somehow evolves and progresses via a player's location. Thus, location-based games almost always support some kind of localization technology, for example by using satellite positioning like GPS."Urban gaming" or "Street Games" are typically...
- Mobile mediaMobile mediaThe mobility and portability of media, or as Paul Levinson calls it in his book Cellphone, “the media-in-motion business” has been a process in the works ever since the “first time someone thought to write on a tablet that could be lifted and hauled – rather than on a cave wall, a cliff face, a...
- SoundmapSoundmapA soundmap is a form of locative media that links a place and its sonic representations. It is an example of the personalized map content described alternately as web mapping and neogeography....
External links
- The WhereProject
- Blobjects: Bruce SterlingBruce SterlingMichael Bruce Sterling is an American science fiction author, best known for his novels and his work on the Mirrorshades anthology, which helped define the cyberpunk genre.-Writings:...
talking on blobjects - Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution by Howard Rheingold
- Narrative Archaeology by Jeremy Hight (2003)
- Immersive Sight Within the Third Space: Augmentation and Spatial Interface in exhibition space by Jeremy Hight (2007)
- The Center for Locative Media
- Beyond Locative Media by Marc Tuters and Kazys Varnelis Interactive Urban Experience with Digital Media (Internet, Mobile Telephony and Locative Media) - Description of more than 150 examples with lots of screenshots and links
- Mobile technology articles on the MediaShift Idea Lab
- Writing Within the Map by Jeremy Hight
- Straight To The Point - Location based technology, local content services, and new developments in local media and journalism
- Biomapping.net
- The Mobile City Conference and Weblog on Locative Media