Digital Location Minitrack

Permanent URI for this collection

https://hdl.handle.net/10125/42445

The purpose of this minitrack is to comprehensively engage with research that investigates digital locational data. We call for papers that address the production, capture, and study of location information through both technical and theoretical perspectives. Research into the processes associated with data capture and analysis, including visualization techniques, is in high demand. This is in part due to the ever- growing production of locational data via emerging spatially-aware technologies, such as smartphones, personal fitness trackers, and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

Here we invite papers that address ‘location information’ in a broad sense that includes both precise geolocated coordinates and more general expressions of space and place. Potential data sources include individuals and industries – for example, government open data initiatives, personal activity trackers, social media services, or aerial photography from UAVs. We wish to engage with scholarship that addresses the technical considerations around working with locational data as well as its transformation into locational media.

This includes, but is not limited to, papers that: offer new technical and methodological solutions to the capture, interpretation, analysis or visualization of spatial media; examine the epistemological and ontological effects of spatial social media upon users; present empirical work on the creation or consumption of spatial social media; advance our understanding of how spatial social media relate to social and political processes; present new work on the role of economic forces in the creation and use of spatial social media, for example, location-specific advertising; or explore spatial social media as a means of better understanding urban and non-urban environments. More specifically, we encourage papers that engage with the following topics or related areas:

  • Spatial Informatics, data mining and data exploration of spatial information
  • Crowdsourced spatial information
  • New or emerging locational data collection techniques
  • Resistance and/or surveillance through spatial digital information and social media
  • Mapping social media for humanitarian efforts
  • FOSS technologies for location aware research
  • Social media and citizen science initiatives
  • Governmental Open Data analyzed and distributed through social media
  • Gendered representations in spatial digital information and social media
  • Ethical considerations associated with the use of spatial digital media for information sharing
  • Scale and information relevance related to social media networks and location
  • Qualitative research on the use of spatial social media by end-users and firms
  • New or alternative methodological techniques for the collection, analysis and visualization of spatial social media information

Minitrack Co-Chairs:

Jim Thatcher (Primary Contact)
University of Washington - Tacoma
Email: jethatch@uw.edu

Britta Ricker
University of Washington - Tacoma
Email: bricker0@uw.edu

Browse

Recent Submissions

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
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    Volunteered Drone Imagery: Challenges and constraints to the development of an open shared image repository
    (2017-01-04) Johnson, Peter; Ricker, Britta; Harrison, Sara
    Orthorectified imagery is valuable for a wide range of initiatives including environmental change detection, planning, and disaster response. Obtaining aerial imagery at high temporal and spatial scale has traditionally been expensive. Due to lower costs and improved ease of use, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have been increasingly prevalent. This presents an opportunity to share images as part of participatory geographic information systems initiatives similar to OpenStreetMap. We outline a workflow to generate maps from UAV aerial images. We then present a characterization of software platforms currently available to aid the development of maps from UAV imagery, defined by type of service, whether imagery hosting or data processing. From this analysis, we identify existing barriers to imagery sharing, including data licensing, data quality, and user engagement.
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    Understanding the Valuation of Location Privacy: a Crowdsourcing-Based Approach
    (2017-01-04) Poikela, Maija; Toch, Eran
    The exchange of private information for services or other benefits is a commonplace practice today in the advent of mobile technology. In the case of mobile services, the exchanged commodity is increasingly often spatial location of the user. To decide whether this transaction is beneficial, the user needs to evaluate the exchange value of this commodity. To assess the value users give to their location, and to understand its relationship with location sharing, we conducted a study on a mobile crowdsourcing platform (N=190). We find that users' valuation of location privacy is dependent on the sharing scenario. For instance, when the location is to be shared with an untrusted advertiser, the users require a premium as compensation for their information. Additionally, benefit perception and trust are found to be connected with more frequent location sharing, while perceived risks and privacy concern are associated with sharing one’s location less frequently.
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    Introduction to Digital Location Minitrack
    (2017-01-04) Thatcher Jim; Ricker, Britta