A digital snapshot of who/what is where/how,
Hyperlocal Context is a machine-readable,
real-time contextual representation
of a physical space and its occupants.
Why hyperlocal context?
If the Internet of Things is defined as:
enabl[ing] computers to observe, identify and understand the world—without the limitations of human-entered data.
then hyperlocal context is a web-standard means for computers to represent and exchange their understanding of the physical world. Hyperlocal context is derived by processing a real-time stream of ambient data.
Establishing hyperlocal context
Hyperlocal context is effectively a graph:
- nodes are radio-identifiable devices (i.e. physical things)
- edges are radio decodings (i.e. proximity)
- each node may include hyperlinks to additional data (i.e. digital twins)
Representing hyperlocal context
The graph is represented as a list of devices
"devices": {
"{id}/{type}": { ... },
"{id}/{type}": {
"nearest": [ ... ],
"dynamb": { ... },
"statid": { ... },
"url": "https://...",
"tags": [ ... ],
"directory": "a:b:c",
"position": [ x, y, z ]
}
"{id}/{type}": { ... }
}
Ordered list of peer devices by proximity, as estimated by signal strength ( rssi), represented as an array of objects, each with the following structure:
{
"device": "{id}/{type}",
"rssi": -72
}
Each item in the list represents an edge in the graph, connecting device{id}/{type} to device{id}/{type} in the list of devices.
- where
dynamic ambient data represented as standard properties* including:
| batteryPercentage | |
| heartRate | |
| illuminance | |
| isButtonPressed | |
| temperature |
- how
static identifier data represented as standard properties* including:
| appearance | |
| deviceIds | |
| name | |
| uri | |
| uuids |
- what
Hyperlink to a digital twin, expected to be represented in the form of JSON-LD & Schema.org.
The url is either retrieved by looking up statid identifiers in the Sniffypedia index, or associated with the specific device by chickadee.
- what
- who
- where
List of semantic tags associated with the device, represented as an array of strings.
The tags are associated with the specific device by chickadee.
- what
- who
- where
Hierarchical semantic description of location, represented as a colon-separated string.
The directory is associated with the specific device by chickadee.
- where
Developers, developers, developers!
Our cheatsheet details the underlying data structures.
Exchanging hyperlocal context
Hyperlocal context can be shared among the occupants of a space in either machine-readable or human-readable form, facilitating mutual discovery and information exchange. As such, hyperlocal context augments real-time human-scale interactions as a spontaneous and collective source of contextual feedback.
The science of hyperlocal context
Towards collective hyperlocal contextual awareness among heterogeneous RFID systems
Jeffrey Dungen, Juan Pinazo (reelyActive)
Hyperlocal Context to Facilitate an Internet of Things Understanding of the World
Jeffrey Dungen, Pier-Olivier Genest (reelyActive)