Geography Reference
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phones. The data that we can collect can use any of the integrated devices on the phone
such as
a camera to collect images and video;
a microphone to capture audio data;
a text editor or SMS to capture text data.
Furthermore, using Bluetooth we are able to connect additional sensors if needed. For
example, we could connect pollution monitoring or heart rate sensors.
Meta data can also be captured about the participant and their location. This meta data
can be captured using software such as Context Phone (Raento
et al.
, 2005). Context Phone
is an open source software platform which uses four interconnected software modules to
allow developers access to context information gathered using devices on and interactions
with a mobile phone. For example, the sensor module captures information about location,
user interaction, communication behaviour and physical environment.
One useful application of Context Phone is to capture meta data on the environment
surrounding participants. To achieve this we can use the 'physical environment' sensor
module and collect a log of Bluetooth connections surrounding the participant. Using this
data we can give the analyst a sense of how busy or crowded the environment is.
All of these mobile phone features (integrated devices, software etc.) and network provider
services allow the researcher to collect a wide range of data. Often we wish to visualize
this data spatially. Therefore, location tagging data becomes an important requirement. In
newer mobile phones, GPS is an integrated feature and exact coordinates of the phone can
be captured and tracked. However, this is still not a standard feature of most mobile phones.
A different approach is to use the mobile cell that the phone is connected to as a method for
location tagging or getting the participant to self-report location information such as the
street name, city or building where they are located.
16.3 How can we visualize this data?
Mobile phone data collection can enable researchers to collect various types of multimedia
data. This data can be location-tagged as well as time-stamped and context information
logged. All of this data can then be used to build up a rich picture of where and when
the data was captured and the surrounding environment. Visualizing this data, therefore,
becomes an important feature of data collection using mobile phones.
16.3.1 Visualizing location information
Visualization of location information is often map-based as it provides a natural and intu-
itive representation that can be quickly and easily interpreted. Map-based visualizations of
environments are used in the pervasive games mentioned above (CYSMN, I Like Frank and
Uncle Roy) as well as other pervasive games such as 'Ere be Dragons (Boyd Davis
et al.
, 2005).
In these pervasive games maps are used to present information to players, game masters
and audience members and for later use in analysis. These map-based visualizations allow
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