Applying Value Sensitive Design to Location-Based Services: Designing for Shared Spaces and Local Conditions

2026-03-12

AI Summary

This study addresses the challenge that existing location-based service designs struggle to manage value conflicts arising from local contextual dynamics in shared physical spaces. To bridge this gap, the paper proposes a Location-Aware Value Sensitive Design (LA-VSD) framework, which extends value sensitive design into spatially grounded contexts by integrating spatial co-presence and place-specific values. The framework operationalizes this integration through three heuristics: stakeholder mapping, identification of local value tensions, and coordination of cross-layer digital-physical interactions. Empirical validation was conducted via urban micro-context fieldwork in Melbourne, focusing on shared e-scooter systems. Findings demonstrate that LA-VSD effectively generates design interventions that are both contextually attuned and actionable, offering a principled approach to navigating ethical and social complexities in location-aware technologies.

Technology Category

• Humans and AI: Learning Human Values and Preferences
• Planning, Routing, and Scheduling: Optimization of Spatio-temporal Systems
• Intelligent Robots: Localization, Mapping, and Navigation

Application Category

• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Location- and context-aware Web and WoT applications and services
• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: Accountability, Transparency, and Ethics for personalization
• Responsible Web: Machine-in-the-loop, human agency and autonomy

Abstract

Location-Based Services (LBS) such as ride-sharing, accommodation, food delivery, and location-driven social media platforms entangle digital systems with physical spaces, thereby generating impacts that extend beyond users to others who share the same environments. Existing design approaches struggle to address the dual challenge of value tensions that arise in shared physical spaces and the locality-specific contexts in which LBS operate. To respond, we introduce Location-Aware Value Sensitive Design (LA-VSD), a domain-specific adaptation of VSD tailored to the distinctive characteristics of LBS. LA-VSD guides designers through three heuristics to help (1) identify and prioritise stakeholders through local space-sharing scenarios, (2) adapt empirical methods to capture values and tensions in context, and (3) support value-aligned interactions across both digital and physical layers of the service. Through a case study of e-scooter sharing in Melbourne, Australia, we demonstrate how LA-VSD enables more grounded, context-aware, and actionable design of LBS.

Problem

• Location-Based Services
• Value Sensitive Design
• Shared Spaces
• Local Context
• Value Tensions

Innovation

• Value Sensitive Design
• Location-Based Services
• Shared Spaces
• Local Context
• Stakeholder Prioritization