Creatures of Mobile Habits

Research in the UK tracked 100 000 mobile phones in a bid to gain some insight into human movement - and not the waving your arms and stomping your feet kind of movement but rather where you go, how far, how long you're there and how frequently. As predicted, the study concluded that most people are creatures of habit. In fact, very few move out of a five to ten kilometer radius and visit the same places over and over again.

The results could apparently assist when there's an outbreak of diseases and track traffic changes. But what the study really revealed was that people's movements follow a precise mathematical law known as power law. Power law is the relationship between two quantities for those who don't know.

Although this isn't the first time that mobile technology has been used to gather information about human behaviour it has highlighted the possibility of much more research and changes in the way we interact with our mobile phones and the influences that could come of it.

Handset manufacturers like Nokia have put forward a proposal to build sensors into their phones to report back on air quality. What that means is a whole new trend in location specific information. By including that sort of feature, it will be much easier to collect that sort of data. While location specific information is gaining ground fast, with new technologies and developments in phones, location based information and media will soon reiterate our instant gratification society and become common place. A clever tool if you want to build a database, ask Google - they'll tell you.

So, if mobile users are living the same route over and over again, you have to wonder...are you one of them? Creature of habit or adventure? Hummba offers users a chance to get mobile with their mobile. Offering free location based audio guides and the opportunity to take geo tagged photos to share with your friends. And only your friends. You can even link your Facebook account to your hummba profile. Download the mobile application on m.hummba.com or visit www.hummba.com to find out more.