Challenge: ubiquitous location-aware computing and the "place lab" initiative

To be widely adopted, location-aware computing must be as effortless, familiar and rewarding as web search tools like Google. We envisage the global scale Place Lab, consisting of an open software base and a community building activity as a way to bootstrap the broad adoption of location-aware computing. The initiative is a laboratory because it will also be a vehicle for research and instruction, especially in the formative stages. The authors draw on their experiences with campus and building-scale location systems to identify the technological and social barriers to a truly ubiquitous deployment. With a grasp of these “barriers to adoption,” we present a usage scenario, the problems in realizing this scenario, and how these problems will be addressed. We conclude with a sketch of the multi-organization cooperative being formed to move this effort forward. Categories and Subject Descriptors C.2.4 [Distributed Systems]: Distributed databases, Security, integrity, and protection; ...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2003
• Where: WMASH
• Authors: Bill N. Schilit, Anthony LaMarca, Gaetano Borriello, William G. Griswold, David W. McDonald, Edward D. Lazowska, Anand Balachandran, Jason I. Hong, Vaughn Iverson
• Keywords: Location-aware Computing, Scale Place Lab, Web Search Tools, WMASH 2003