User Centered Time Geography for Location-based Services

Location-based services assist people in their decision-making during the performance of tasks in space. They do not consider the user’s individual preferences, time constraints, and possible subtasks to be performed. In order to account for these important aspects, a user centered spatio-temporal theory of location-based services is required. We propose such a theory by combining classical time geography with an extended theory of affordances. It assumes that affordances belong to three realms: physical, social-institutional, and mental. In addition to covering the capability, coupling, and authority constraints from time geography, this allows for a user centered perspective because affordances describe action possibilities with respect to a specific person. Furthermore, the integration of mental affordances offers the possibility to account for cognitive time constraints due to the duration of decisionmaking processes. This new theory for location-based services is closer to the individual user and more plausible with respect to their daily lives. A business traveler scenario is used as a case study to demonstrate this.