Locative Media:

Definition: "Locative media is many things: A new site for old discussions about the relationship of consciousness to place and other people. A framework within which to actively engage with, critique, and shape a rapid set of technological developments. A context within which to explore new and old models of communication, community and exchange. A name for the ambiguous shape of a rapidly deploying surveillance and control infrastructure."
Reference: http://web.archive.org/web/20060720212044/http://locative.net/tcmreader/index.php?intro;russell .

The reason I am now interested in this type of media is that I can use GPS (Global Positioning System) tracking to map out a series of factors in an area, then take the data to show some kind of visual relationship with the route. GPS was first developed in the early 1940's and used during world war 2, providing the US navy an accurate method of fixing their position before firing missiles.

An example of the use of GPS is the ARQuake project. This involves a GPS signal being read by a computer strapped to the back of a user. When the user wears a head set then they can play this game in the real world but have virtual enemies to fight.


Another use of GPS is infact the use mapping yourself and the path you have taken or want to take. This is how I will be using it.

How It Works:

The way that GPS works is by triangulation from satellites. It does this by a GPS receiver measuring distance using the travel time of radio signals. The GPS receiver must also know exactly where in space the satellites are.

RFID:

Radio Frequency Identification is the use of an object applied to or incorporated into a product, animal, or person for the purpose of identification and tracking using radio waves. Some tags can be read from several meters away and beyond the line of sight of the reader. An example of such used are passports etc.