Determining the provision of resources for a spatially dispersed ageing population

The increasing use of digital technologies in location based service (LBS) provision and consumption, has changed the way we make decisions about when, how and where we do things and increased our ability to access and consume information on the move. In the mean time, spatially dispersed ageing population is becoming a challenging issue for many developed countries. Australia has opted to deal with this unprecedented ageing issue via an 'ageing in place' strategy, which poses a number of serious challenges including the issue of personal mobility and the abilityto access those things that are deemed essential to ones well-being and quality of life from outside the home. To better understand the potential benefits for the elderly in deploying digital technologies in LBS provision and consumption, this paper presents an empirical assessment of micro level manifestations of location disadvantage within residential suburbs of Melbourne using GIS-based spatial analysis procedures and fine resolution spatial data. The approaches taken and the findings made in this study should be useful to public policy makers, government and non-government service providers and developers of LBS applications in many countries who will all be confronted by this same policy problem within the next two decades.