Networks and Communication Studies NETCOM, vol. 20, n° 1-2, 2006 p. 9-25

Geolocation Technology and Local Information in Mobile Telephony Yoshio Arai1

Abstract.— Geographical location (geolocation) technology as applied to mobile telephony is currently rapidly advancing. The geographical location data concerning mobile phone users can be effectively utilized to provide local information. The first geographical positioning service in Japan using the Personal Handyphone System (PHS) started in 1998. This service has been applied to security services for children, elders, emergency purposes and the management of delivery vehicles. For cellular phones, the accuracy of positioning by the cell-based method is more limited than for PHS because of the width of the service area of a cellular base station. Despite its limited accuracy, the location data held by the cellular phone array can be utilized for the provision of local information. Japanese mobile phone companies started the positioning service for local information providers around 2000. The i-Area Service provided by NTT Docomo is the most typical of these facilities. More precise geolocation services have been developed by mobile phone companies since 1999, when new positioning methods using GPS technology were developed. Various new services in local information provision utilizing precise location data, such as search services for restaurants and shops, as well as navigation services for tourists, are now available. In this paper, geographical positioning via a mobile phone network is reviewed and the possibilities within geolocation technology for new local information services are discussed. Keywords.— Geolocation, Mobile phones, Information, Services Résumé.— La question de la géolocalisation par les Technologies de l’information et de la communication (TIC) est de plus en plus d’actualité grâce à une offre en matière de téléphonie mobile toujours plus perfectionnée. En particulier, cela permet d’offrir aux utilisateurs des informations locales grâce au positionnement permis par le système GPS. Le premier service de positionnement géographique au Japon employant le système personnel de Handyphone (PHS) a débuté en 1998. Ce service a été appliqué à la question de la sécurité pour les enfants, à celle les aînés, au secours et pour la gestion des véhicules de livraison. C’est autour de l’année 2000 que les compagnies japonaises de téléphone mobile ont commencé à offrir des services de géo-localisation aux producteurs d’informations locales (exemple de NTT Docomo). Désormais, beaucoup de services géolocalisés offrant des contenus locaux (recherche de restaurants, de magasins, services de navigation pour des touristes) sont disponibles. C’est précisément ce qu’il s’agit de présenter dans le cadre de cet article. Mots clés.— Géolocalisation, Téléphones mobiles, Information, Services 1. Prof. Yohsio Arai, Depart of Human Geography, the University of Tokyo at Komaba, 3-8-1, Komaba, Meguro-ku, Tokyo, 153-8902, Japan. E-mail:[email protected]

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1. INTRODUCTION

The rapid development of mobile telephony is opening up a new “geographic” stage for the information society. Virtual space, which is called “cyberspace”, emerged through digital networks represented on the Internet. Countless placelessly connected information devices construct such cyberspace. Cyberspace is essentially independent of conventional geographical space and is ruled by a spatial logic that is distinctly different to traditional geography. Kitchin (1998) thus proposed the “geography of cyberspace” in which the spatiality is discussed. However, digital networks creating cyberspace impact upon an actual infrastructure of geographical space. Batty (1997) called an infrastructure strongly impacted by digital network technologies a “cyberplace”. The mobile phone is a universally employed, advanced information device, and networks of mobile phones may create for each instrument a cyberspace that maintains a spatial logic distinct from that of traditional geographical space. The wide diffusion of Internet connection services (the mobile Internet) seen in both Japan and Korea is realizing a cyberspace created by mobile phones (Arai, Hashimoto, Yamada, 2002). Mobile telephony nevertheless incorporates a digitalized infrastructure occupying geographical space. However, wireless techniques employed for use with information devices may blur any boundaries between cyberspace and cyberplace, as Batty (1997) himself agreed. Mobile telephony is, in reality, relatively independent of geographical space compared with other infrastructure such as the network of fixed-line connection. This distinction suggests that mobile telephones may offer an opening to new avenues of geographical meaning. The relationship between cyberspace and cyberplace in mobile telephony has undergone further change in the most recent developments of geographical location (geolocation) technology. Various geographical positioning techniques are displaying wide possibilities for the future use of mobile phones. The cyberspace so created may in the future have a closer relation to actual geographical space. The geographical meaning of geolocation technology in the context of the Internet has already been discussed (Kellerman, 2002), and several researchers have tried to identify the linkage between cyberspace and actual geographic space using the registered mailing addresses of Internet domains (Zook, 2000) or IP addresses (Dodge, Shiode, 2000). On the other hand, the impacts of mobile phone use upon urban space have also been discussed. For example, Townsend (2001) anticipated that the use of location information derived through the mobile phone network will make personal real-time decisions more flexible, and urban traffic problems will be eased by the increase in flexibility of decision- making. Batty (2003) pointed out the possibilities to the utilization of location information by mobile terminal based on Wi-Fi technology. They did not, however, examine the detail of actual usage of location information, but only discussed the technological possibilities. Although some researchers working in the development of

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geolocation technology investigated the application of the technology, their proposals were limited to conceptual ones (D’Roza, Bilchev, 2003). The real-time acquisition of personal location data in urban space through the mobile phone network systems to analyze the tempo-spatial characteristics of people movement for planning and public administration purposes is a scarcely researched field using actual cases of the location data application. Ahas and Mark (2005) and Ahas (2005) reported on a pilot study carried at Tallinn, Estonia. Rotti, Pulselli, Williams and Frenchman (2005) also analyzed location data from a research project on Milan, Italy. However, these projects were experimental without a practical application. Few studies focus on not only future possibilities in the application of the geolocation technology in mobile telephony but also their practical usage and its problems, because of the short time that has elapsed since the emergence of the technology. In this paper, the recent development of the geographical positioning technique and the possible use of positioning data in mobile telephony will be discussed whilst examining some selected cases from Japan. In the following sections, the variety of positioning techniques for geographical location when applied to mobile telephony is briefly overviewed. The penetration process of these geolocation techniques into society is next introduced. Finally, the utilization features of positioning data are discussed, referring to some examples of the local information provided by mobile phones. Although the author focused on features of local information service using mobile phones in the previous paper (Arai, 2004), the services corresponding to geolocation technology were not closely examined. D’Roza and Bilchev (2003) proposed conceptual possibilities for a type of local information service applying geolocation technology. However, such functions are becoming general practice in Japan, where the Internet connection services for mobile phone are widely diffused. Several notable examples of such practice will be focused on herein.

2. GEOGRAPHICAL POSITIONING METHODS IN MOBILE TELEPHONY AND THEIR UTILIZATION IN JAPAN 2.1 Geographical positioning methods in mobile telephony

There are presently three data acquisition methods for geolocation as shown in Figure 1 (Adams, Ashwell, Baxter, 2003; Telecommunication Council, 2004). Cell-based method

The simplest way to measure the geolocation of a mobile phone is the cellbased method, which utilizes the location data within the cellular base stations of mobile telephony networks. The accuracy of positioning using this method depends on the size of a cell covered by a base station. In rural or mountainous areas, where base stations are sparsely distributed, the accuracy of positioning data

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a. Cell-based method

b. Multiple cellular base-stations metnod

c. Enhanced GPS positioning method

Figure 1. Geographical positioning methods in mobile telephony

is quite low. In urbanized areas however, where the density of base stations is high, the accuracy of location varies from several hundred meters to 1 kilometer for cellular phones, and from 100 meters to 200 meters for the Personal Handyphone System (PHS). Multiple cellular base-stations method

In mobile phone arrays using multiple accesses to several cellular base stations, such as the cdmaOne/cdma2000 and W-CDMA systems, the multiple cellular base station method is available. Several techniques in this category, such as OTDOA (Observed Time Difference of Arrival) and AFLT (Advanced Forward Link Trilateration), have been developed. In this arrangement, radio signals transmitted from three or more base stations are analyzed to improve the accuracy of the cell-based method. The accuracy of positioning is around 100 meters in suitable conditions. Enhanced GPS positioning method

GPS positioning using signals transmitted from GPS satellites can provide far higher accuracy, of less than 100 meters. In mobile telephony, enhanced GPS positioning techniques using data from the mobile telephony networks are commonly employed to improve accuracy and availability. In the United States, the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) has mandated mobile phone carriers to

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implement positioning functions to provide location data for emergency calls. This mandate has accelerated the development of GPS positioning methods. A weakness of the GPS method is the difficulty that the positioning process has in environments that cannot satisfy “open sky” conditions, seen as the interior of buildings and crowded built up districts. The “gpsOne” technique developed by Qualcomm Incorporated and others employs a technical solution simultaneously using radio signals from both satellites and base stations to ease this incapacity of the GPS method.

2.2 Utilization of geographical positioning techniques in Japan Positioning Service by PHS

The first commercial geographical positioning service in Japan was the “Imadoko (where are you?) Service” provided in 1998 by the PHS Division of NTT Docomo, the largest mobile phone carrier in Japan. The Imadoko Service employed the cell-based positioning method for PHS. At an early stage of the service, only the numerical location data of PHS handsets were accessed through facsimile or PC. Shortly afterwards, they started the “Imadoko Mapion Service”. Using this, it is possible to find the location of the handset on a PC map display screen. This service mainly targets the security of children and elderly people. The positioning accuracy of the cell-based PHS is satisfactory for this purpose because of the dense distribution of base stations. In early 2001, NTT Docomo launched the “Mopera Service”, with which a PHS user can search for information about public transport and nearby shops. This scheme is the first instance of a local information service utilizing the geolocation data inherent to mobile telephony. i-Area

The accuracy of cell-based positioning methods associated with cellular phones is not sufficient for security services, but is satisfactory as a source of local information about restaurant and shop localities or for tourist guides. NTT Docomo added a local information search service using positioning data to the i-Mode Service, which provides for the Internet connection of mobile phones. They commenced this service, named “i-Area”, in July 2001. The whole of Japan was divided into 505 areas, and local information is given for each. Although the sizes of the areas vary enormously, they almost all exceed at least 1 square kilometer. Even with the comparatively low accuracy of the cell-based positioning method, cellular phones are of practical use in providing information on a chosen area. The method of dividing Japan into areas by the i-Area Service will be discussed later. Initially the i-Area Service covered only the “official” websites directly linked to NTT Docomo’s server. However, they started the “Open i-Area” Service for the “non-official” websites linked through the Internet in February 2002.

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Mobile phones with a GPS positioning device

GPS positioning is currently in a stage of diffusion. The first commercial GPS positioning service was provided in 2001 by “au”, the mobile phone division of KDDI, using a GPS technique called “gpsOne” developed by Qualcomm Incorporated. KDDI employs the chip sets of the cdmaOne/cdma2000 system made by Qualcomm for their mobile phone handsets. The gpsOne processors are built in these chip sets as a standard specification. KDDI was able to use these processors to start the GPS positioning service earlier than its competitors. From 1999, NTT Docomo opened a GPS positioning service through the support of Snap Track Inc., a subsidiary of Qualcomm, which was earlier than the opening of the mobile phone GPS service by KDDI. Because NTT Docomo had not yet completed their own GPS mobile phone handsets at that time, users of this facility were required to prepare auxiliary GPS devices. NTT Docomo did not catch up with its competitor until March 2003, and the percentage of handsets with GPS positioning devices within all the NTT Docomo’s mobile phones is still low. 3. LOCAL INFORMATION SERVICES USING POSITIONING DATA

A major feature of Japanese mobile telephony is that the use of Internet connection services (the mobile Internet) has become widely accepted and used in society, and a number of websites for mobile phones are operating (Figure 2). A considerable proportion of these websites provide local information seen as tourist guides, restaurant and lodging reservation searches, and so on.For local information services, the identification of those areas where a user wishes to search for guidance is needed. Almost all websites providing local information through the PC Internet employ an identification method for geolocation based upon the place names of the region and the city concerned. Mobile telephony has an advantage in the provision of local information, since handset geolocation data are available to the information services. 3.1 i-Area The searching process in the i-Area Service

Local information services utilizing the positioning data of mobile phones have been led by the i-Area Service operated by NTT Docomo since July 2001. The i-Area Service is obtained as a part of the i-Mode Service. The “i-Mode Menu”, the top page of the “i-Mode” Service, has entry to the i-Area Service. When a user accesses the top page of the i-Area Service, his or her current area is displayed and a list of adjacent ones follows. By selecting an area from the list, the names of local information websites are displayed. The latter are individually categorized as weather reports, maps, restaurants and shops, cinemas, lodgings, transportation, and so on. In such domains as weather reports, maps, and transportation, a few large content providers maintain the services, which are designed with the same format for almost all areas in Japan. Although several providers operate nationwide

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Figure 2. Subscribers to mobile phone and mobile Internet services Source: Telecommunication Carriers Association

services for restaurants, shops and lodgings, there are many small website operators for particular areas. When the i-Area Service started, the websites could be accessed only via the top page of the service. However, the “Open i-Area Service” which provides user positions to website operators, was added to the i-Ar ea operation in February 2002. Because NTT Docomo publishes the detailed specification of the “Open i-Area Service”, any website operator can develop customized services which employ the positioning data of mobile phone users (Figure 3). These data are mainly accessed in the search services for restaurants and shops. Areal division system of the i-Area Service

The i-Area Service division of Japan into 505 areas is an important factor for effective information provision by search services based on the positioning data. The size variation of each area from less than 1 square kilometer to over 10,000 square kilometers is due to the spatial density difference of data content holders between urban and rural regions. Small areas in the centers of large cities, where local information services are heavily used, deserve discussion. Let us focus on two selected cases in Japan.

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server of i-mode Center handset

server of local information provider Internet

(2) selection of the surrounding area search

(1) top page of a search service (3) identification of the area (4) transmission of the area code (5) list of information websites

Figure 3. Proccess of the Open i-Area Service The Tokyo 23-ku Area

The Tokyo 23-ku Area, the central part of Tokyo Municipality, is divided into 88 areas. This fine division is the closest among all the large Japanese metropolises. The area size varies from 0.29 square kilometers to 51.9 square kilometers. The maximal area (“Kitasenju”) is about 180 times the minimal (“East Side of Shinjuku Station (Shinjuku Eki Higashiguchi)”). However, the area size correlates loosely with the amount of information provided by websites. For an example of local information services, the author examined restaurants registered in “Gurunabi (Gourmet Navigation)”, a leading restaurant search service in Japan. Figure 4 shows the correlation between the number of registered restaurants and area size. This figure suggests that the division system of the i-Area Service is regulated according to two principles. The first is that the information provided for an area should exceed some minimum amount. Area sizes are therefore larger where the information density is low. The group of areas stretching horizontally along the X-axis in the figure suggests this principle (Figure 4). The second principle is that if an area contains a large amount of information, it should be divided. The division is chosen so that each new area contains more than the minimum amount. Despite this principle, areas cannot be made smaller than a certain size because the accuracy of positioning by a cellbased method is limited. Some areas show extraordinary amounts of information for this reason. The group of areas stretching vertically along the Y-axis in the figure shows this trend. There is a problem that too much information for one area causes difficulties in the user search processes on the small screen of a handset. For example in

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Gurunabi, over 400 restaurants are hit in the search for Japanese restaurants in the area of “Ginza”, where the largest number is registered within the areas of the Tokyo 23-ku Area. The list, which is divided into over 40 pages, is in this case displayed on the small screen of mobile phones. Many users will be dismayed when presented with such list shown in this barely useable manner. Where positioning data are extremely good, a finer division of areas is possible. However, areas that are too small may cause the problem that an area cannot match personal territorial cognition. For example, the area “East Side of Shinjuku Station”, the smallest area in central Tokyo, is a tiny part of Shinjuku, which is a large amusement district (Figure 5). Users must search over many adjacent areas to obtain the required information. To overcome this difficulty, a dynamic searching method based on precise positioning data, rather than one based on a static areal division system is required. Because the cell-based method cannot provide this service, more accurate positioning methods such as GPS positioning will be required.

Kanazawa

In the present system of areal division employed by the i-Area Service, the central parts of the three major Japanese cities of Tokyo; Keihansin (Osaka-Kyoto-

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Kobe); and Nagoya, are divided into a number of small areas. The central parts of Fukuoka and Sapporo, which are the next largest metropolises, are also divided into several areas. The only provincial city with a divided central area is Kanazawa, which is of medium-large size and is located in the central part of the Japan Sea coast of the Japanese Mainland. Although the whole city area of Kanazawa was initially included in one area of the i-Area Service, the area was divided into six areas in May 2004. There are several provincial cities with a similar population to Kanazawa. Why among these cities is Kanazawa the only one to have this division system? Figure 6 shows the relationship between the number of restaurants registered in Gurunabi, which can be observed as an indicator of the amount of local information, and the population size by city. The larger the population size, the larger the amount of local information generally available. However, the amount of local information per capita differs among cities. In the case of Kanazawa, the city is rich in local information compared with other cities with a similar population. This suggests that the divided areas are effective for provision of local information in areas where there is much information available. The wealth of local data in Kanazawa is verified by the enormous number of restaurants and shops registered in the website operated for the i-Area Service by a local magazine publisher “Kanazawa Club”. In this site, called “Machineta Kanazawa”, which is operated by Kanazawa Club, over 3,700 restaurants and

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shops are registered. The division of the city area seems to be necessary for the reasonable application of searches in the i-Area Service. 3.2 Local information provision utilizing GPS positioning techniques

In contrast to NTT Docomo, which employed the cell-based method for the i-Area Service, KDDI has aimed at the use of GPS positioning since the start of geolocation technology development. KDDI started a GPS positioning service in December 2001, at almost the same time as the i-Area Service was introduced by NTT Docomo. KDDI has not provided a corresponding service to NTT Docomo’s iArea Service, and has instead focused on GPS positioning for their local information service. Search services for local information

Although the areal framework for geolocation data in the i-Area Service is decided by the mobile phone company, only the latitude and the longitude of a user’s location are transmitted from the mobile phone company to a search service provider in GPS positioning. When a mobile phone carrier employs the GPS

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positioning method, service providers can coordinate restaurant name their own areal frameworks for search processes. In (Italian) category most facilities, the search [¥3000] 220m results are listed from the Cou Cou C’est Nous nearest to the farthest. distance from (French) the present location Figure 7 shows a schematic (in ascendant order) result of a GPS-assisted [¥8000] 466m search on the Gurunabi average price Sushi Wakuda per person website, which is a typical (Sushi) restaurant search service. [¥5000] 556m On the search page of the McDonald Shibuya website, a user can choose the GPS-assisted search or (Hamburger) searches based on key[¥500] 830m words or railway stations. When the GPS search is Figure 7. A schematic result of a GPS-assisted search on chosen, restaurants are Gurunabi’s website displayed from the nearest one according to the searcher’s GPS position. This method of display can provide smooth searching even if the number of hits is large. In this respect, GPS-assisted searches are more advantageous than those based on fixed areas like the i-Area Service. Descriptions and pictures of a chosen restaurant are displayed on the screen. A map can then be examined that shows the detailed location of the restaurant. Users can additionally find the shortest route to the restaurant from their present location. Restaurant List OSTERIA BRACCIA

Tourist guidance services

GPS positioning techniques may promote manifold new uses for mobile phones both for communication or information provision. Various field experiments aimed at the development of new applications have been tried recently in Japan. In this context, the “Marunouchi Ubiquitous Museum” project is discussed, which is an experiment being carried out in central Tokyo. Marunouchi is the most prestigious business district in Japan, located between the Palace and the Tokyo Central Station. This district also attracts a great number of tourists. The histories of buildings, event announcements, and restaurant and shop guides are provided by mobile phones in the “Marunouchi Ubiquitous Museum” project. Because this experiment features information identifying individual buildings, user-positioning data with accuracy better than 100 meters are needed. A caller on a mobile phone with a GPS positioning device can receive information about nearby places wherever he or she is located. The user position is automatically measured by the handset and transmitted to the information server.

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Thereafter, the sagas of old buildings, and restaurant and shop guides, as well as a detailed map of adjacent places, can be displayed on the screen. For KDDI, handsets with GPS positioning are popular. However, for NTT Docomo, which commands the largest share among Japanese mobile phone carriers, such distribution is strictly limited. The “Marunouchi Ubiquitous Museum” project provides an alternative method for detailed positioning for users without GPS positioning handsets. In this method, two-dimensional codes printed on guidance panels displayed on gateways and street trees (Figure 8) are available to the user. The code can be read using a handset with a digital camera (these are popular in Japan), and his or her detailed position can be transmitted to the information server. Although the same information is provided by both positioning methods, the places where two-dimensional codes are available are limited as shown in Figure 9.

Two-dimensional code for the positioning

Figure 8. Guidance panels on a street tree and the gateway of a building

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Figure 9. Distribution of the guidance panels with two-dimensional codes for the mobile phone positioning in Marunouchi District

Difficulties and the future of GPS-assisted local information services

Although GPS positioning techniques have rich possibilities for developing manifold flexible services in local information provision, there are some difficulties at present. The severest of these is the large amount of data transmission required to provide an attractive service fully utilizing GPS positioning data. In particular, detailed maps, which are indispensable for services appropriate to GPS positioning, require the transmission of very large files. Second-generation mobile phone services using PDC or GSM are not sufficient for this requirement because of their slow data transmission. Third-generation (3G) services using cdma2000 or W-CDMA with higher communication capacities are expected. The rapid increase of 3G handsets in recent years, especially for KDDI, suggests a positive prospect for resolving this problem (Figure 10). In addition, the high fees corresponding to the large volume of transmitted data are also troublesome. However, the recent introduction of flat-rate fee systems for third-generation services by Japanese carriers is expected to ease this difficulty. Another problem is the limited penetration into the market of handsets with GPS positioning devices. Governmental policy to promote the introduction of the location transmission system of emergency calls from mobile phones will have an impact on the penetration rate in Japan as well as in the United States and Europe. The Japanese Government aims to start the system by April 2007. GPS services will thereafter be rapidly diffused even to NTT Docomo users. GPS-assisted local information services are expected to be more popular in the near future (Telecommunication Council, 2004).

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CONCLUSION

In western countries, there are many possible applications for use of geolocation technology in mobile telephony, which forms the basis of this paper. Local information services utilizing positioning techniques are also discussed. However, most of these considerations merely list ideas and do not examine how to apply these concepts in actual societal situations. Several local information services based on mobile phone positioning data have been established in Japan as mobile Internet websites and are rapidly increasing in capacity. This facility was initially limited to a local information search service using the cell-based method during the early period of geolocation technology development. GPS-assisted local information services have developed as handsets with a positioning facility diffused. These can provide detailed information about the nearest restaurant to the user and navigate to the right place, and are good examples of GPS utilization in providing local information. Such techniques not only resolve the difficulty in appropriate areal division of an information service based on the cell-based method but also open the possibility of a new service that provides very detailed information for specific districts or even individual buildings.

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Although the penetration into society of GPS mobile phone handsets is not yet great, even in Japan, the rate is expected to increase rapidly in coming years due to the introduction of location transmission systems for emergency calls. Mobile phones with a GPS precise positioning function will become popular in the next decade throughout the United States and Europe. Similar services to the Japanese precedents will appear simultaneously with an increased penetration of the mobile Internet. The expansion of local information provision based on geolocation technology through the mobile phone network may have some impact upon urban space formation. Townsend (2001) stressed the spatial meaning of mobile telephony as a new communication tool to aid decisions that need not be locationally fixed. He expects that the districts where business activity is highly concentrated, such as the central business district, or CBD, will be decentralized, due to an increase in flexibility of the decision-making place. Local information provision based on precise location data passed through the mobile phone network may also change the manner of spatial behavior of urban residents and visitors. If people can gain detailed information about shopping, eating and drinking, entertainment, and so on, from anywhere, they will have no need to fix their detailed schedule in advance, or to collect information beforehand. The flexibility of a person’s spatial behavior will be largely increased. Such flexibility in behavior may enhance the competitiveness of the central commercial districts where facilities are currently densely located and provide manifold behavioral options. Wireless techniques in communication infrastructure are now overcoming the defects in conventional cyberplace, which are tightly linked to fixed places. Mobile telephony will be foremost in encouraging this trend because of its relatively deep penetration into the lifestyle of many countries and regions. Concomitantly, the use of geolocation data is interpreted as an effort to regenerate a geographic dimension to the placeless cyberspace created by mobile phones and the Internet. The use of geolocation data through mobile phones will connect cyberspace and actual space.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The author would like to thank anonymous refrees for constructive comments on a previous version of this paper. This investigation is founded by the Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (No. 16520482) of The Japan Society for the Promotion of Science and the research aid of The Telecommunication Advancement Foundation.

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