Database Reference
In-Depth Information
8. Social Sensing Applications
In this section, we will discuss a number of recent applications which
have been designed in the context of sensors and social networks. Many
of these applications are related to storage and processing of mobile data
which is continuously collected over time. Such mobile data can be used
in order to provide real time knowledge of the different users to one
another, trigger alerts, provide an understanding of social trends, and
enable a variety of other applications. In this section, we will discuss
a number of social-centric applications, which have been developed in
recent years. These include specific systems which have been designed
by companies such as Google, Microsoft, and SenseNetworks, as well as
a number of generic applications, which have not yet been fully commer-
cialized.
8.1 CrowdSourcing Applications for
User-Centered Activities
A number of crowdsourcing applications have recently been designed
for providing feedback in a number of user-centered activities such as
buying behavior, location trends, or other miscellaneous user activ-
ity. Examples of such applications include
Google Latitude
,
CitySense
,
Macrosense
and
Wikitude
applications. The Citysense and Macrosense
applications both collect real-time data from a variety of GPS-enabled
cell phones, cell phone tower triangulation, and GPS-enabled cabs. The
two applications share a number of similarities in terms of the under-
lying methodology, but they have different features which are targeted
towards different kinds of audiences. We describe them below:
8.1.1 The Google Latitude Application.
The Google Lat-
itude Application uses GPS data which is collected from Google map
users on mobile cell phones. It is also possible to collect more approx-
imate data with the use of cell phone tower location data (in case the
mobile phones are not GPS enabled), or with the use of IP addresses
of a computer which is logged into the personalized google page called
iGoogle
. The Latitude application enables the creation of
virtual friends
,
who are essentially other users that carry the same location-enabled de-
vice, or use other devices such as personal computers which can transmit
approximate location data such as IP-addresses. A number of other ap-
plications which enabled by the Google Latitude master application are
as follows:
Location Alerts:
The application allows the triggering of alerts
when someone is near their latitude friends. The alerts are trig-
