Dr. Tumasch Reichenbacher
(Senior Research Associate)
Paul Crease
(Ph.D. Student / Research Assistant)
Stefano De Sabbata
(Ph.D. Student / Research Assistant)
GeoRel Project
In this research project on geographic relevance in mobileapplications (GeoRel) we address some of the missing buildingblocks and try to establish a theoretic foundation. Within this research project we extend the idea of current LBS in the following ways:- Shifting the location-based perspective to a relevance-based perspective, including the spatial, temporal, topical, and motivational dimensions.
- Considering the relation of information needs with information objects within the mobile usage context.
- Exploiting geography as a unifying framework for a broader understanding of relevance by the nexus of location (where), time (when), and objects (what), i.e. geographic relevance.
- Employing more sophisticated spatial concepts for filtering content than simple distance-buffer selections.
- Developing suitable representations of geographic relevance within mobile services or applications.
The objective of the project is the development of methods and metaphors for assessing the geographic relevance of geospatial features for a usage context and its effective representation and visualization in mobile services. This includes efficient representations of relevance as a property of single objects or as conceptualizations as new, synthesized features, as well as representations of spatio-temporal constraints of mobility and activities, and of accessibility within the space-time prism.
Geographic relevance is investigated under the perspective of activity theory, since activities offer a structured and useful framework for the mobile usage context involving geographic (spatio-temporal), structural, and perceptional (visual) context. Also, it is these mobile activities triggering geographic information needs, questions or problems that should be supported by the concept of geographic relevance by offering relevant geographic information objects answering the where, what, and when aspects.
Figure: An example of Geographic Relevance computation and visualization.
Assessment
The purpose of this part of GeoRel project is to establish a formal method for the numerical assessment of Geographic Relevance. We understand Geographic Relevance as a relationship between the user's geographic information needs and the spatio-temporal expression of geographic objects in the user's surrounding environment. Main objectives of this research are to analyse, formalize and quantify this relationship, in order to achieve a formal conceptual model and a computational estimation method.This will offer a new conceptual and computational framework for the development of mobile geographic and map-based applications. Thus, this research will attempt to provide to these applications a more detailed, accurate and adequate method for meeting the user's geographic information needs.