The massive rise in satelite navigation devices (and use) in cars is possible because the Americans turned off the scrambling device on the GPS satellites. However, because navigation is governed by the shortest distance between points, it may lead trucks down tiny roads, or people cars through waterlogged fiords.
Something is wrong, why are people getting lost when using car navigation, trying to drive off cliffs, or through watercourses. Lones argument is the there is information missing, the map that satnav is based upon is not situated in the environment.
Michael de Certeau “place is a practiced space”, people access the city in two ways -from outside through the map(not in the game), from inside as a pedestrian(situated person) . The Naked city(Deboard & Jorn, 1957) is a deconstruction of a map into the flow. This is the route description.
So there is the route description and the map, and gps navigation is a route description.
You do need to know what is happening out there.
The dream that GPS manufacturers are selling is false, It dosen’t situate us, this is why people drive into the water. Make us believe that we can be teleported from place to place without worry.

There will be a large contingent of Australians too. Compared to Europe, Australia and Singapore are practically next door.

What I am looking forward to are the discussions by new media networks and platforms for collaboration between arts and other fields of inquiry. It is not that art has the sole role of making work about social worries, environment or addressing aesthetics, but it is disenginious to say that it has none.

One project that inspires me is Luminous Green, initiated by Fo.am. It asks what are the possibilities and realities of using technology and know-how to envision a luminous green future rather than a dull grey one(this article is interesting on a factor 4-10fold reduce in the use of resources.

I will be talking about locative games in my paper Location! Location? Location!! (10am Nanyang Technological University B1-3 27th July 2008) These are games/experiences that have a sense of place, may use technology like GPS, mobile phones), what it promises and what the reality is.

This activity is supported by the National Lotterry through the Arts Council England Grant for the Arts (hence the logo).