Studienlandschaft Schwingbachtal: an out-door full-scale learning tool newly equipped with augmented reality

This paper addresses education and communication in hydrology and geosciences. Many approaches can be used, such as the well-known seminars, modelling exercises and practical field work but out-door learning in our discipline is a must, and this paper focuses on the recent development of a new out-door learning tool at the landscape scale. To facilitate improved teaching and hands-on experience, we designed the Studienlandschaft Schwingbachtal. Equipped with field instrumentation, education trails, and geocache, we now implemented an augmented reality App, adding virtual teaching objects on the real landscape. The App development is detailed, to serve as methodology for people wishing to implement such a tool. The resulting application, namely the Schwingbachtal App, is described as an example. We conclude that such an App is useful for communication and education purposes, making learning pleasant, and offering personalized options

Rapid prototyping of the SmartAR augmented reality control platform for multiple use cases

The technology of augmented reality (AR) is still in its infancy, but given the significant influence of mobile devices like smartphones and tablets, it can be said to be the next big thing for the next generation. The goal of this study is to create, utilizing fast application development approaches, a low-cost platform that can be applied to a variety of Smart City and Smart Building use cases. The many AR use cases discussed in this paper are all implemented using the same methodology. The Node-Red platform, which is perfectly suited to the Internet of Things and online applications, was used to swiftly construct a number of augmented reality use cases for the platfor

The integration of an augmented reality module within the Way- Cyberparks app. : the case study of Valletta city

Latest improvements on mobile devices capabilities are changing the way people interact with their surroundings. Nowadays, devices are able to sense the environment and user’s location, enabling the user to experience improved digital services. This is a key aspect of public spaces enhancement, which plays a pivotal role for the improvement of public spaces; a key to make public locations more accessible, interactive and enjoyable. One of the most powerful technologies enabling this innovative set of services is known as Augmented Reality (AR). More in depth, AR allows users to visualise in real time virtual information about the physical objects of the real world, directly on the display of their own devices. AR provides innovative way-finding widgets and context-awareness services. Along with the aims of the COST Action Cyberparks, our aim is to improve the App delivered during the first stages of the project (Way-Cyberparks) with AR functionalities, by developing a location-based AR module tailored to be integrated within Way-Cyberparks. The AR section will link virtual geo-tagged annotations as an interface to (geo) spatial and attribute data, allowing users to quick access digital sensory inputs. The overarching idea is to populate the App with virtual signage fostering the fruition of public spaces by allowing users to experience new ways of moving within specific places. Thanks to that, on one hand, the App works as an interactive path-finder tool, heading visitors towards the most interesting locations or landmarks within a specific area (Points of Interest or POIs). On the other, users are enabled to create their own contents and upload them into the network of available POIs, enabling a true participative community. The city of Valletta has been chosen as first case study; here the AR module will be tested to identify historical locations and heritage buildings, acting as contextual objects for the Way- Cyberparks App.Funded by the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme of the European Union.peer-reviewe

PSiS Mobile

In this paper, we present a state of the art on applications of mobile devices to support decision of a tourist running on a trip. We focus on two types of applications, tourism recommendation and tourism guide, making a brief description of the main characteristics of each one of them. We also refer the main problems encountered on the development of applications for mobile devices, and present PSiS (Personalized Sightseeing Tours Recommendation System) Mobile, our proposal to a mobile recommendation and planning support system, which is designed to provide an effective support during the tourist visit, providing contextaware information and recommendations about places of interest (POI) to visit, based on tourist preferences and his current context

Enhancing integrated indoor/outdoor mobility in a smart campus

A Smart City relies on six key factors: Smart Governance, Smart People, Smart Economy, Smart Environment, Smart Living and Smart Mobility. This paper focuses on Smart Mobility by improving one of its key components: positioning. We developed and deployed a novel indoor positioning system (IPS) that is combined with an outdoor positioning system to support seamless indoor and outdoor navigation and wayfinding. The positioning system is implemented as a service in our broader cartography-based smart university platform, called SmartUJI, which centralizes access to a diverse collection of campus information and provides basic and complex services for the Universitat Jaume I (Spain), which serves as surrogate of a small city. Using our IPS and based on the SmartUJI services, we developed, deployed and evaluated two end-user mobile applications: the SmartUJI APP that allows users to obtain map-based information about the different facilities of the campus, and the SmartUJI AR that allows users to interact with the campus through an augmented reality interface. Students, university staff and visitors who tested the applications reported their usefulness in locating university facilities and generally improving spatial orientation

TrailXplorer: An interactive mobile educational tool to promote safety awareness and prevent injuries from outdoor adventures.

This thesis seeks to introduce an interactive mobile prototype to promote safety awareness and a visualized guideline to assist outdoor adventurers. Nature is a place where many people go to find peace and relax. According to the “Outdoor participation report 2017” (the Coleman Company, 2017), 144.4 million Americans participated in outdoor activities in 2017. Unfortunately for a multitude of reasons, people encounter some type of unfortunate event that results in either injury or death. As the number of outdoor participants has continued increased annually, safety awareness and skills training have become increasingly crucial now more than ever. This project sought to not only educate people’s outdoor skills and reduce injuries but to also proposes new interactive methods that can support them in the future. The overall purpose of this project was to reduce injuries from outdoor activities by promoting safety awareness and educate people on outdoor activity skills. By providing users with information about environmental conditions and Augmented reality technology, users can have better insights into their surroundings in addition to knowledge of useful safe solutions when they go outdoors. Therefore, in the future outdoor enthusiasts will be able to enjoy a better and safer adventure. More importantly, this project explored how to integrate emerging technologies into people’s real- life experiences while helping them to solve problems. The deliverables of this project included three parts. Firstly, the user research. A lot of user research methods, such as user questionnaire, interviews, user personas are used to identify the target audience, their needs and pain points. Secondly, the interaction design process included planning and documenting user flow, the definition of design through wireframes and visual design iterations. To find the optimal user experience, scenarios were evaluated based on user objectives. Lastly, a demo video was created to help communicate the workflow by simulating the use cases. This project proposed to combine user experience methods, interfaces design, and augmented reality technology to deliver a better and safer outdoor experience