A system for coarse-grained location-based synchronisation

TL;DR

This paper presents a system for coarse-grained location-based synchronization supporting awareness in ongoing activities, with a prototype evaluation indicating good acceptance and potential to complement existing practices.

Contribution

It introduces a novel system for location-based synchronization tailored for specific activity contexts, with empirical evaluation of its effectiveness.

Findings

Good acceptance of the system in user evaluations

Potential to replace or complement existing synchronization methods

Effective support for awareness in ongoing activities

Abstract

This paper describes a system for supporting coarse-grained location-based synchronisation. This type of synchronisation may occur when people need only some awareness about the location of others within the specific context of an on-going activity. We have identified a number of reference scenarios for this type of synchronisation and we have implemented and deployed a prototype to evaluate the type of support provided. The results of the evaluation suggest a good acceptance of the overall concept, indicating that this might be a valuable approach for many of the indicated scenarios, possibly replacing or complementing existing synchronisation practices.