Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
15.1 INTRODUCTION
If the mountain will not come to Muhammad, then Muhammad must go to the mountain
Francis Bacon, in Essays, 1625
Location-based GeoComputation (LBGC) is the use of high-powered mobile devices to undertake
analysis and modelling using spatial data whilst exploiting the benefits of being immersed in the
environment under study.
Since the inception of GeoComputation (GC) as a set of tools and techniques in the mid-1990s,
the processing power of mobile devices has increased to a point where we can consider taking GC
beyond the desktop and into the wild. With a truly mobile device, equipped with positioning, orien-
tation and imaging sensors, we have the opportunity to redefine our relationship with the modelling
process. We have the chance to compare and validate directly in the field, and we can incorporate
newly captured data into the analysis and visualise the impact on the model outputs immediately.
We can study local phenomena whilst factoring in data and processes in the neighbouring area and
at a regional scale. We can increase our understanding of how real-world observations relate to the
data models we are using for our analysis and help to remove the gaps between in-field data collec-
tion, desktop analysis and validation. There seems to be potential to promote new approaches to
analysis and modelling by giving the researcher the ability to work with data and algorithms in the
field, which may lead to better analytical outputs but also an increased understanding of how the
underlying data structures and algorithms are performing.
This chapter represents a call for research and exploration into the potential benefits of vari-
ous GC activities for being immersed in the real-world environment to which a study relates. We
describe the major characteristics of LBGC and emphasise the added value we see in taking analy-
sis and modelling out into the field. We begin, however, by considering some of the key technical
developments that have made LBGC possible.
The introduction of the smartphone to the marketplace has resulted in these handheld computers
becoming widespread amongst the general public due to the multiple functions they perform, which
in turn create a demand for new and innovative software to take advantage of the affordances of the
devices themselves and the benefits of being mobile. Smartphones are devices that have high levels
of processing power, a full-colour touch screen, a variety of sensors and an on-board operating sys-
tem (OS) that allows for customisation through downloadable applications. These devices have led
to the development of new methods of interaction and, perhaps more importantly, the bundling of
many different sensors into a single piece of handheld technology. With all of these advances, the
mobile phone has gone from being a device that allowed the user to carry around a portable version
of their landline handset to the modern paradigm in which the traditional telephony functions of
such devices have become secondary. Instead, primary functions which used to be associated with
desktop computing, such as accessing the Internet, checking e-mails, playing games or taking notes,
now occupy a key position at the forefront of the technology.
In addition to smartphones, a new wave of touch-screen tablets has been introduced: Apple is
leading the way with iPad, Microsoft has just released its Surface tablet, and there is an array of
Android-powered tablets, produced by Samsung and Motorola, as well as by Google itself. Some
tablets take the idea of having a mobile device for doing
other things
further by removing the tele-
phony functions from the device altogether. These tablet devices seem to be fulfilling the role of
a home netbook, that is, a small, lightweight, energy-efficient subnotebook or ultraportable laptop
computer or a low-end laptop, perhaps, because tablets are well suited to low-interaction tasks,
such as Internet browsing or gaming, rather than high-interaction tasks such as word processing
or programming. By way of background, it is worth reviewing the evolution of the modern mobile
platform and to consider how it can support GC, both now and into the future.
Newer smartphones and touch-screen tablets owe a lot of their success to the OSs and associated
software that empower them. The use of a touch screen on many of these devices also means that
