Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
spill in the field and, using various
readings
, had to find the source of the spill based on their
environmental science knowledge (Klopfer and Squire, 2008). Even though this particular app
was educational, one could see how AR in this instance could be employed by researchers to
understand the landscape and even evaluate base data in the field before going into the analysis
phase of a study.
AR in its current state is being used in apps that are working towards true LBGC. Currently,
the usability issues seriously constrain the interactions and scientific usefulness of AR. For serious
consideration, AR would require the following developments to have occurred:
•
Better/more stable sensing equipment (especially the compass)
•
Longer-life batteries
•
New interaction methods
15.5 PROSPECTS FOR THE FUTURE
Due to the cutting edge nature of LBGC, literature is limited; however, there are certainly some
apps that have the characteristics of LBGC and with a few additions would be LBGC. One such
app is concerned with interviewing in the field, a recognised method of data collection which can
provide richness to complement quantitative datasets. Combining the qualitative answers to inter-
view questions with quantitative recorded location data, new light can be shed on issues relating
to, for example, fear of crime and opinions on studentification (Jones et al., 2011). In the reported
study, the interviewee was given a mobile device running Mscape that recorded via a button
interface how happy the participant felt in relation to their personal safety. The combination of
different data collection techniques and the context of place allowed for an in-depth study. Where
the study fell down in LBGC terms, however, was that the app had no method of getting at the
meaning of the data.
LBGC has a bright future on account of the continuation of improvements in mobile hardware,
software and GC techniques. Interaction with mobile technology is one of the issues discussed as
an area that needs to be looked at because of problems with interacting fully with a small screen
whilst in an outdoor environment. There are several possibilities for further research, for example,
so-called gestural interfaces, in which input and control are provided by means of any bodily
motion or state but primarily achieved through recognition or interpretation of signals originating
from the face or hand. Indeed, gestures, as a method of interaction, have been available for some
time and are particularly well established in the area of game console add-ons such as Microsoft
Kinect (2013) for Xbox 360 and PlayStation Move (http://us.playstation.com/ps3/playstation-
move/), which respond to gestures in a touchless interface. A method of bringing this type of
interface to a mobile device is by using sensors on the mobile technology, to interact with it, using
more complicated hand postures (Wobbrock et al., 2008). In this instance, the authors are discuss-
ing using more of the digits on the hand to interact with the device instead of replicating aspects
seen on desktop machines such as a QWERTY keyboard or
point-and-click
-style touch screens.
This type of interaction could be seen as a continuation of the change from simply implementing
desktop metaphors on small screens to a completely new and more natural method of interacting
with a small device.
An alternative approach to LBGC might be to revaluate the mobile device altogether in terms of
user interaction, commensurate with the notion of so-called wearable computing. This would enable
each end user to more fully combine their computing needs with their bodies and, in so doing, offers
us yet another example of the unexplored potential for
gestural interfaces
. One such scenario might
be where the user wears a small projector, camera and a small mobile device in the form of a pen-
dent and the user projects their workspace onto any available surface (Mistry and Maes, 2009). By
carefully considering and designing for context, this makes for some compelling examples where
wearable computing would allow a user to more successfully interact with an LBGC app in the field.
