Prowler,
If you've watched a cobbler, they hammer the stuff down. Of course, contact cement adheres on contact. On a flat workpiece, you can just set it down on the bench and press, or roll it. But a shoe sole isn't flat. So, it requires seating the two pieces home with a smooth faced hammer. Really hard to do unless you have a shoe form or anvil. If not, the only way I can think of is to clamp it. Again, hard to do on an undulating shape. Hence the tape. I used to do the felt soles on my wading boots like that.

I have never even heard of water based contact cement. But, hearing about it here ... I'm going to put another tin of the real stuff on my shopping list.