With the use of location APIs to return coordinates we established theoretically how the system may obtain location data. The next area of enquiry was how this location data could be associated with art.

As we are discussing digital systems we must take as given the fact that a computer or computers will create and/or deliver the media we call art. This means computer files. Thus we can model a simple correspondence between two values – one a geometric value, the other a computer file name. This basic relationship can be extended to include a range of geometric values (i.e. an area) and a sequence of computer files, including executables.

The diagram below illustrates the anatomy of a cell as it is constituted in LBS. We have a cell mast coordinate a which we can assume is accurate and an art coordindate (or range of coordinates) b which we can also assume is accurate (in that the art location is entirely a function of the system). The location of the user c, however, is less certain. The illustration here shows the user on the periphery of the cell but, in fact, the user could be anywhere within the blue circle, as determined by the degree of error i.

In an empirical sense this lack of precision as to the location of the user represents a failure of the location APIs’ technology. Certainly, alternative systems that use geo-stationary satellites deliver considerably higher accuracy. To artists, however, this imperfection represents opportunity and warrants enquiry. Consequently, a system that enables artists to work with the technology must enable them to interrogate this uncertainty and to exploit it.

The first point to make is that this configuration of location shifts what we understand a ‘place’ to mean. Mobile phone location APIs return an imprecise coordinate, which are enhanced, in placing the user, by information on where the user is ‘near’, typically, in the visions of mobile network executives, goods or services to be consumed. But even with the increased ‘granuarlity’ of GPS systems, one’s precise latitude and longitude are of limited value in themselves. What give these meaning is the total context of the user, not just the media or services to which a system may link the coordinates, but the political, economic, sociological or cultural systems that have brought that user to that place at that time, with those intentions. In order for artists to scrutinise this relationship the proposed system must allow artists to create alternative geometries, or at the least, translate the default system location data (i.e. OS Landranger or World Geodetic - WSG 84 etc) into alternative geometric systems.

Heading west, 3rd June 2005.

The second point expands on the first to note how the topography of mobile networks is a model of human activity. The illustration above shows a journey from London to Gloucestershire one Friday evening, down the M4.

What is immediately apparent is the wide variety of cell radius. Close to built up areas, where there is a high density of masts, the cells are relatively small and accuracy higher. Away from urban areas, the cells get much larger. A cell mast has a finite number of frequencies assigned and therefore users it can accommodate; to accommodate more users GSM networks create smaller cells - the denser the users in a given area, the denser the GSM cells. In this base station distribution (and therefore LBS accuracy) reflects patterns of economic activity.

The third point is that this combination of geographic space, geometric coordinates and media is a new sign, in the semiological sense. The media that apparently comprises the art work does not contain it. Linking art media and geographic location forces us to extend the limits of the art work beyond the boundaries of media to include the physical space within which the work exists, or onto which it is mapped. The complex of space, geometrics and art media are the signifier, the signified is the art piece. Thus the art piece is implacably immaterial.