1.3. What’s special about it?
Learning Objectives
- Through this unit you should be able to identify different types of context that are relevant to a user of mobile information service and list at least 5 of them
- You should be able to discuss at least 3 different ways a service can be made to respond context
- You should be able to describe at least 2 real world examples where context has been used
- You should be able to suggest relevant contexts and different methods for reacting to them when given an arbitrary information usage scenario
Introduction
Location-based services are different from more conventional paper and
internet based media (guides, directories, maps etc.) because they are 
aware of the context in which they are being
used and can adapt their contents and presentation
accordingly. There are many different types of context, some of the most commonly considered are location, time and task.
These relate to:
- where the user is,
- when they are using the service and,
- what they are using the service for.
However considerations such as how old the user is, if it's raining or who the user is with can be equally as important. Location-based services can respond to these types of context in different ways. They might filter information, for example by only retrieving restaurants within 10 minutes walk of a user’s location, or they might present information in such a way that its relevance to a users context is enhanced, for example by using different map symbols for restaurants that are currently open compared to those that are closed.
In this unit we shall look at what context is and how it can be used to distinguish LBS application.
Update: 26.1.2012 (eLML) - Contact - Print (PDF) - © CartouCHe 2004-2007 (Creative Commons)
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