The co-evolution of taxi drivers and their in-car navigation systems

  • Authors:
  • Fabien Girardin;Josep Blat

  • Affiliations:
  • Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Interactive Technologies Group, Roc Boronat 138, 08018 Barcelona, Spain and Barcelona Media, Diagonal 177, 08018 Barcelona, Spain;Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Interactive Technologies Group, Roc Boronat 138, 08018 Barcelona, Spain

  • Venue:
  • Pervasive and Mobile Computing
  • Year:
  • 2010

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Abstract

The recent market success of in-car navigation systems creates an opportunity to investigate the appropriation of location-aware systems outside laboratory settings. Through ethnographical lenses, we study how this technology changed the practice of a massive community of its early adopters, the taxi drivers of Barcelona (Spain) and, specifically, their exploitation of pervasive geoinformation. The results show co-evolution: taxi drivers adapt to their in-car navigation systems and adapt them to their needs; in particular, there are evidences of an alteration of the learning processes and of technology appropriation to reduce stress rather than to improve efficiency. We argue that these findings can inform the design of next-generation location-based services.