context-aware urban exploring

A Paradigm for Non-Directed Exploration in Mobile Computing

Mercedes Paulini - 2009

This paper describes the rationale for a navigational system that supports the context-based exploration of the urban environment. While many navigational tools support wayfinding, they are based on targeted search, requiring the user to have a predetermined destination. Existing applications do not offer navigational mechanisms that base their recommendations on the user’s unique context information. Customised recommendations present the user with relevant routes they may not have discovered on their own. In this paper, a parallel is drawn between wayfinding in the physical world and the virtual, with web surfing acting as a metaphor for a particular style of interaction with the physical environment. Similarly, the framework for this system presents suggested routes to the user according to their unique contextual setting, which is anticipated to allow a more explorative engagement with their physical environment.