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    NEXT: The Future of Location-Aware Technology

    My son and I were hiking in Highbanks early in August. The first thing I noticed is that we could not find a parking spot. It was 10:00 a.m. on a weekday, and so I had assumed there would be few people at the park. But when we arrived, we had to drive to the other side of the park just to find a parking space, every other parking space having been taken. Once we finally found a spot, we began our walk through the trail in the woods, and it became clear that we were in the minority that morning: we were not staring at our phones as we made our way along the trail. We both looked at each other and said, knowingly, “Pokémon Go.” It was these wannabe Ash Ketchems who had taken every parking space and had invaded Highbanks in search of “pocket monsters.”

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    It would be easy to dismiss Pokémon Go as the summer’s latest fad, but Pokémon Go won’t be going away anytime soon. Well, maybe the Pokémon part will, but the idea that digital objects will be located throughout our physical environment for us to capture is not going away. Very soon, we’ll be “hunting” entirely other varieties of digital objects.

    Location-aware technology is certainly not new. Google estimates that there will be more than a million beacons placed in U.S. retail stores this year, and we should expect that number to increase. A beacon is a technology that pings your device as you approach a particular location within a store. As you walk by a restaurant, say, your device might inform you about what time they close or will provide you a dinner menu for you to consider. Such “proximity marketing” attaches digital information to a specific physical location.

    Pokémon Go extended this idea outward. Pokémon were not affixed to any specific location, to a specific Pokémon retail outlet, but could be found anywhere (even art galleries and the Holocaust Museum, much to the consternation of its curators). Imagine something like Pokémon Go applied by a retailer. You might locate coupons or other such digital items throughout an entire city, so that consumers might encounter them wherever they might walk, not just when they are in proximity to the store. Digital items might be collected the way one collects coins, gems or other such objects as in a video game. Indeed, Pokémon Go and its imitators have turned the entire physical world into a giant game space. What kinds of digital objects might we want to collect? How might the search for digital objects across the physical landscape of a city become part of a company’s overall brand strategy?

    That physical world is already being carved out by advertisers. Pokémon Go has started selling “sponsored locations” to advertisers, meaning that “retailers and companies will be granted the paid opportunity to be featured prominently on the game’s virtual map, in the hope to drive customers inside their facilities.” That virtual map remains unseen (for the moment) unless you have a device. Using a device uncovers the virtual map, this alternative world lurking beneath the surface of the physical world (remember the movie They Live?) But that world will be carved into different commercial- and retail-sponsored fiefdoms. A physical location, even a public space like Schiller Park, might be sponsored by Limited Brands. Watching someone strolling through the park with their mobile device just might signal that they were searching for the latest fashions from Pink.

    And, while Google Glass may be dead (for the moment) Snapchat has just introduced sunglasses with built-in recording devices, so you might take short videos as you are walking around. Eventually, people will become comfortable with the idea that their eyewear can also be an information device. Hikers at Highbanks will be able to hunt for Pokémon without having to hold a screen around in front of them: Pikachu will simply appear in their digitally-mediated field of vision.

    The next Columbus Futurists monthly forum will be Thursday October 20 at 6:30 PM at the Panera Bread community room (875 Betel Rd.) Our topic for the evening will be “Predicting the Presidential Election”

    David Staley is president of Columbus Futurists and a professor of history, design and educational studies at The Ohio State University. He is the host of CreativeMornings Columbus.

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    David Staley
    David Staley
    David Staley is president of Columbus Futurists and a professor of history, design and educational studies at The Ohio State University. He is the host of CreativeMornings Columbus.
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