Location-based service use: a metaverse investigation

Abstract

The current trend in location-based services (LBSs) research is to focus on the development and deployment of LBSs. This research examines the different uses of LBSs based on a virtual environment. It is argued that using the real world method of developing and deploying LBS restricts the types of uses being developed and that an alternative approach might yield insight into what types of uses are possible and how it might change the thinking of LBSs developers. This research surveyed the Second Life metaverse to identify and categorise the types of LBS used and deployed in the digital world. The results of the survey found that many of the LBSs in SL provided intelligence to the avatar so that they could perform an action which they could not do without the LBS. It is clear that the topic of navigation is biased based on the digital nature of the SL metaverse and its use of the teleportation concept. But the results show that LBSs are ubiquitous throughout metaverse and the types of services go beyond those found in the real world.