First-Person View of Geography

Targeted information embedded in place turns each location into a personal space. Watch for schools, malls, and neighborhoods to become digitally tagged for learning.

Real World Application

The community becomes the classroom
Ubiquitous computing and wireless connectivity, embedded in physical environments, will turn physical places into aware contexts—environments that recognize people, information, and activities, and then respond appropriately. As place-based information becomes more accessible, educational services will be customized to place, making learning increasingly visible in the community.


Public places become personal spaces
This decade will become the decade of information in place— geocoded data will be linked through the Internet and accessible through a variety of mobile tools from cell phones and PDAs to augmented-reality devices (like eyeglasses). The result will be an increasingly first-person view of places, where rich streams of personalized media “redraw” streets, storefronts, schools, and community locations. Educational content and curriculum will become context-specific, aligning personal learning needs with places.