PePe field study: constructing meanings for locations in the context of mobile presence

Location information contains a huge promise in the area of awareness technologies. In PePe project, automatic location detection was investigated as part of a mobile presence system. A field study with twelve young adults was conducted to explore the usage habits of sharing location information. The participants defined, named, and shared on average twenty meaningful locations with their friends. They found the location information as the most relevant mobile presence attribute, due to a fact that it gave good overview on the status of the other users. We focus on analyzing how the participants named locations and how they used location information in the context of mobile presence. The participants utilized shared meanings of locations in naming and storing them to the PePe system. We classified the created locations as generic locations, points of interest, and geographical areas. The presented results will facilitate in designing location enhanced mobile awareness systems.

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