A school of human geography that emphasises the development and use of continuous models of human activity with respect to time and space, and argues that these models are a basic component of the understanding of spatial behaviour. Classical, ‘spatial’ geography orients towards space over time, and concerns, for example, changes in settlement size and layout. Time geography, in contrast, orients towards the activities of human individuals in the context of time space, and concerns, for example, patterns of commuting and migration into and out of a settlement.
Published in Chapter:
Problems Rendezvousing: A Diary Study
Martin Colbert (Kingston University, UK)
Copyright: © 2008
|Pages: 20
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-59904-871-0.ch003
Abstract
This chapter seeks opportunities to use mobile technology to improve human mobility. To this end, the chapter reports a diary study of university students’ use of mobile telephones for rendezvousing—arranging, and traveling to, informal meetings with friends and family. This diary study reveals, and suggests explanations for, a number of deficits in user performance: (1) rendezvousers occasionally become highly stressed and lose valuable opportunities; (2) outcomes are worse when rendezvousing at unfamiliar locations; (3) 31 to 45 year olds report more personal sacrifices than 18 to 30 year olds; and (4) when mobile phones are used on the move, the experience of communication is slightly worse than when phones are used prior to departure. Ways of using mobile technology to make good these deficits are suggested.