Mobile Toolkit Research Articles

Development of a mobile toolkit to support research on human mobility behavior using GPS trajectories

GPS tracking is a common empirical research method to gain information about human mobility behavior. Based on the recorded GPS trajectories it is possible to analyze and explain motion spatially, and temporally. More comprehensive explanations of specific movement patterns require the coupling with other survey techniques such as trip diaries, interviews, and questionnaires, which are widespread data acquisition methods in tourism research. However, GPS-based surveys require a high effort in the preparation and post-processing of the data, and expertise in both, information technologies and tourism research. In order to prepare the data for the analysis in geographic information systems a number of steps with different tools is necessary. In this paper the GimToP Toolkit (GTK) is presented that integrates the methodological approach and the technology in an easy-to-handle manner. The GTK combines trajectory data with digital questionnaires based on a mobile application that is used for the data collection and preprocessing tasks. Connected to a server, which offers a service-oriented architecture, the GTK has the ability to process the survey data and to provide interoperability for the analysis in other applications. This paper presents the components of the GTK and shows its usage during two field studies, which are carried out in the city of Wernigerode and the Harz National Park in Germany. The results offer new insights in the movement behavior of the tourists and can be used to support a more sustainable development of the destinations.

The Exploded Fine-Grained Volcanic Sources of the Desert West and the Primacy of Tool Function in Material Selection

Fine-grained volcanic (FGV) procurement sites in western North America are examined with regard to the apparent preference for their use over alternatives that would conventionally be considered higher quality. A flintknapping experiment is described that addresses this issue, and the results are discussed in light of functional requirements in prehistoric, especially Paleoindian, technologies. Variability in the selection of FGV material is found to be based on strength and durability and can be seen to change according to textural differences. A case is made for reasserting the importance of function as critical to understanding the economics of lithic resource use. Particular emphasis is placed on how functional requirements interact with transport concerns in mobile toolkits. Data indicators are described that can be used to distinguish these priorities, and several Great Basin archaeological examples are provided.

An empirical comparison of data recovered from mobile forensic toolkits

Mobile devices are increasingly being used as a source of digital evidence in criminal investigations. Mobile forensic toolkit manufacturers have responded to this trend by developing recovery methods capable of recovering evidence from the ever growing range of mobile device models. However, there is a considerable amount of concern as to the reliability of evidence produced from forensic software, with a number of authors documenting difficulties verifying evidence when it is obtained. This paper reports on a comparison of data recovered by a selection of software based methods available in three mobile device forensic toolkits. The results provide the first empirical evidence that there is considerable variation in results between recovery methods in terms of the proportion of data recovered from different devices by different toolkits. In addition, the results suggest that a forensics investigator will face serious challenges verifying the data recovered using one method using the data recovered by another.

Developing a mobile collaborative toolkit for industrial applications

A mobile collaborative toolkit (MoCT) is presented in this paper to improve the performance of the collaboration in the mobile manufacturing environment. In order to enable the MoCT, a three-layered architecture including data management layer, user interface layer and server layer is constructed. Then the corresponding techniques, scalable vector graphics (SVG) and whiteboard for enabling the architecture are introduced. SVG is used for parsing and rendering the light-weighted drawings. Depending on a new XML-based awareness structure, a whiteboard is constructed; so as to it can be collaboratively operated conveniently. Finally, a MoCT prototype system is developed to show that the MoCT is efficient in the mobile manufacturing environment.

Multimodal Travel Choices of Bicyclists

Cycling demand has been growing in recent years in Germany. Today, during an average week, about 30% of the German population, including all age classes and rural as well as urban populations, use the bicycle as a means of transportation. Cyclists use their bicycles on average 3 days per week for about 30% of their trips. The bicycle, however, is a mode used for specific segments of everyday travel, particularly short distances, unlike the car, which is almost universal. Hence, cyclists exhibit multimodal travel behavior (i.e., they combine the bicycle with other modes and switch to public transport or the car when the bicycle is not suitable). The domain of the bicycle as a means of transport is a radius around home that on average is about 3 to 5 km, dependent on the urban form. Within this radius, the car with its flexibility is the only serious competitor to nonmotorized modes. For the neighborhood-oriented travel of cyclists, public transport performs well only in specific niches, such as travel at night or commuting to school or university. Here, public transport and the bicycle are competitors. Nevertheless, from a system perspective they are allies: each provides important components for a multimodal mobility tool kit that enables travelers to cultivate mobility that is less automobile oriented.

A Neutral Model of Stone Raw Material Procurement

Stone tool assemblage variability is considered a reliable proxy measure of adaptive variability. Raw material richness, transport distances, and the character of transported technologies are thought to signal (1) variation in raw material selectivity based on material quality and abundance, (2) optimization of time and energy costs associated with procurement of stone from spatially dispersed sources, (3) planning depth that weaves raw material procurement forays into foraging activities, and (4) risk minimization that sees materials transported in quantities and forms that are energetically economical and least likely to fail. This paper dispenses with assumptions that raw material type and abundance play any role in the organization of mobility and raw material procurement strategies. Rather, a behaviorally neutral agent-based model is developed involving a forager engaged in a random walk within a uniform environment. Raw material procurement in the model is dependent only upon random encounters with stone sources and the amount of available space in the mobile toolkit. Simulated richness-sample size relationships, frequencies of raw material transfers as a function of distance from source, and both quantity-distance and reduction intensity-distance relationships are qualitatively similar to commonly observed archaeological patterns. In some archaeological cases it may be difficult to reject the neutral model. At best, failure to reject the neutral model may mean that intervening processes (e.g., depositional time-averaging) have erased high-frequency adaptive signals in the data. At worst, we may have to admit the possibility that Paleolithic behavioral adaptations were sometimes not responsive to differences between stone raw material types in the ways implied by current archaeological theory.

Bigger is Better: Comments on Kuhn's Formal Approach to Mobile Tool Kits

Kuhn (1994) argues that small lithic tools provide an optimal means of reducing the weight of mobile tool kits while maximizing potential utility. This assertion contradicts much of the current thinking about mobility and the organization of lithic technology and is at odds with the archaeological record. A flaw in Kuhn's equation for calculating the utility/mass ratio of retouched tools leads him to this erroneous conclusion. Problems with Kuhn's utility/mass ratio equation are described and an alternative formula is offered. The corrected formula indicates that larger stone tools maximize utility at a lower transport cost. Experimental evidence for additional advantages of larger stone tools is also provided.

A Formal Approach to the Design and Assembly of Mobile Toolkits

It is widely believed that the design of transported artifacts and toolkits employed by mobile populations is influenced by two main factors, portability and potential utility. Choices about the kinds of artifacts to carry around can be modeled as an optimization problem, in which it is beneficial to obtain the greatest potential utility for the minimum total weight. This study approaches the problem analytically, making a few simple assumptions about artifact geometry and the relations between utility and artifact size. If artifact utility is calculated as a function of potential for renewal, transported toolkits should consist entirely of relatively small finished tools. Moreover, most gains in durability or multifunctionality that require increases in overall size are outweighed by increased transport cost. Inconsistencies between these expectations and ethnographic and archaeological observations point to situations in which artifact functionality is more closely constrained by overall size or mass.