TY - JOUR
T1 - Development and Evaluation of a Mobile Application with Augmented Reality for Guiding Visitors on Hiking Trails
AU - Silva, Rute
AU - Jesus, Rui
AU - Jorge, Pedro
N1 - info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/FCT/6817 - DCRRNI ID/UIDB%2F04516%2F2020/PT#
Funding Information:
The authors would like to thank all the participants for volunteering their time to conduct the experimental tests and for responding to the survey, as they gave us their time to contribute to our study.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 by the authors.
PY - 2023/5/31
Y1 - 2023/5/31
N2 - Tourism on the island of Santa Maria, Azores, has been increasing due to its characteristics in terms of biodiversity and geodiversity. This island has several hiking trails; the available information can be consulted in pamphlets and physical placards, whose maintenance and updating is difficult and expensive. Thus, the need to improve the visitors’ experience arises, in this case, by using the technological means currently available to everyone: a smartphone. This paper describes the development and evaluation of the user experience of a mobile application for guiding visitors on said hiking trails, as well as the design principles and main issues observed during this process. The application is based on an augmented reality interaction model providing visitors with an interactive and recreational experience through Augmented Reality in outdoor environments (without additional marks in the physical space and using georeferenced information), helping in navigation during the route and providing updated information with easy maintenance. For the design and evaluation of the application, two studies were carried out with users on-site (Santa Maria, Azores). The first had 77 participants, to analyze users and define the application’s characteristics, and the second had 10 participants to evaluate the user experience. The feedback from participants was obtained through questionnaires. In these questionnaires, an average SUS (System Usability Scale) score of 83 (excellent) and positive results in the UEQ (User Experience Questionnaire) were obtained.
AB - Tourism on the island of Santa Maria, Azores, has been increasing due to its characteristics in terms of biodiversity and geodiversity. This island has several hiking trails; the available information can be consulted in pamphlets and physical placards, whose maintenance and updating is difficult and expensive. Thus, the need to improve the visitors’ experience arises, in this case, by using the technological means currently available to everyone: a smartphone. This paper describes the development and evaluation of the user experience of a mobile application for guiding visitors on said hiking trails, as well as the design principles and main issues observed during this process. The application is based on an augmented reality interaction model providing visitors with an interactive and recreational experience through Augmented Reality in outdoor environments (without additional marks in the physical space and using georeferenced information), helping in navigation during the route and providing updated information with easy maintenance. For the design and evaluation of the application, two studies were carried out with users on-site (Santa Maria, Azores). The first had 77 participants, to analyze users and define the application’s characteristics, and the second had 10 participants to evaluate the user experience. The feedback from participants was obtained through questionnaires. In these questionnaires, an average SUS (System Usability Scale) score of 83 (excellent) and positive results in the UEQ (User Experience Questionnaire) were obtained.
KW - location-based applications
KW - mobile augmented reality
KW - mobile user experience
KW - mobile user interface
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85163729790&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/mti7060058
DO - 10.3390/mti7060058
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85163729790
VL - 7
JO - Multimodal Technologies and Interaction
JF - Multimodal Technologies and Interaction
IS - 6
M1 - 58
ER -