Cultural Engagement in Virtual Heritage Environments with Inbuilt Interactive Evaluation Mechanisms

My initial premise is that virtual heritage environments currently do not provide a sense of 'cultural' engagement, and, secondly, that is it important to fulfill these needs. Indeed, how can we develop virtual environments for cultural applications that successfully evoke a sense of engagement or immersion? This paper suggests that the above issue has been indirectly addressed by entertainment software design. A proposed solution to the issue of cultural presence is thus to apply the interactive mechanisms used in games (social agents, maps, dynamic environments, levels of interaction constraint, and taskbased artefactual use) to virtual heritage environments. The hypothesis is that the resulting environment will allow for a more culturally immersive learning environment. Virtual environments also often lack adequate feedback mechanisms. A proposed secondary solution is that designers and researchers of virtual environment can use the above interactive mechanisms for the evaluation of user engagement without simultaneously interrupting the user's feeling of engagement

Walking and Walkability: Is Wayfinding a Missing Link? Implications for Public Health Practice

Research on walking and walkability has yet to focus on wayfinding, the interactive, problem-solving process by which people use environmental information to locate themselves and navigate through various settings

Factors Influencing Hotel Managers’ Perceptions Regarding the Use of Mobile Apps to Gain a Competitive Advantage

The purpose of this quantitative study is to examine the opinions of hotel managers regarding the use of mobile applications in the hotel industry and to analyse the influence of these applications on a hotel’s perceived competitive advantage. Factor analysis and multiple regression analysis were performed to analyse the data collected from 106 hotel managers in Turkey. The results of the study indicate that the factors connection and assistance had a significant impact on hotel managers’ perceived competitive advantage. The findings of this study, one of the few that have examined managers’ attitudes toward the use of mobile apps in the hotel industry, provide valuable information that will help to guide technology vendors and software companies that develop mobile apps for hotel

Design for Hiking Safety & Fun

With the urbanization of the world\u27s population, more and more people have begun to choose outdoor hiking to get close to nature and get exercise. But outdoor hiking can be dangerous, and lack of relevant knowledge not only makes hikers have a poor or stressful time, but it can also be fatal. Losing your way in the wilderness encountering wild beasts, an unfamiliar poisonous plant, lack of physical strength, extreme weather, and other accidents will put many travelers into crisis every year. A safe and comfortable outdoor travel experience could not only increase the safety and fun of travel but also attract more people to join in outdoor hiking. With the rapid development of the information age, many high-tech products have entered people\u27s lives. However, In the current outdoor travel field, these high-tech products are not much used. In this article, the author will explore a method to integrate many new technologies such as Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS), Augmented Reality (AR), Big data, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) into one system to create a future outdoor hiking system that greatly improves the safety and provides comfort and fun to travelers

Sustainable Technology for Person-Centered Accessible Integrated Multimodal Information Systems

This paper reports on a mobility management technology project conducted by the GeoGraphics Laboratory at Bridgewater State University in Bridgewater, Massachusetts, in the Northeastern United States (U.S.). This study is a part of a much larger mobility management technology deployment by the Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority (CCRTA) that deployed integrated intermodal intelligent transportation system (ITS) to support the mobility of a metropolitan region that has a high proportion of elderly residents and persons with disabilities and is a significant tourist destination for national and international travelers. This paper reports on a research project that is developing smartphone applications to provide travelers using transit with navigational tools and real-time spatial information to optimize their travel experience. The smart phone applications are written using the Android 2.2, Windows 7.5, and Apple iOS 4 operating systems. The applications provide the traveler with schedules for every CCRTA regional and shuttle route, estimated time of arrival (ETA), and bus tracking maps (Google and Bing Maps) that locate the transit vehicle and the consumer on the same map as well as text based vehicle tracking. There is an on-line tutorial on how to use the smartphone application. It also provides features that will provide emergency communication with care givers on the consumer’s travel status. The research has developed these transit navigation tools on the three most popular operating systems for smart phones using a widely available cellular carrier. An associated regional capital infrastructure project is bringing state-of-the-art broadband capability and the potential for 4G wireless infrastructure to the most rural “last mile” areas of the Cape Cod Region. These improvements to wireless communications can provide significant benefits to the safety and security of travelers with disabilities

Pedestrian Wayfinding Under Consideration of Visual Impairment, Blindness, and Deafblindness: A Mixed-Method Investigation Into Individual Experiences and Supporting Elements

In this report we discuss to-date findings of a project that aimed at assessing individual and environmental affordances in the context of human pedestrian wayfinding of visually impaired, blind, and deafblind travelers in public spaces. Our project afforded collaboration, co-design, and co-creation of knowledge between the investigators, partners at the American Printing House of the Blind and GoodMaps, the Portland State University Digital City Testbed Center, and members of the disability community. The objective of the project was to better understand how different wayfinding aids, that is, wayfinding apps, tactile maps, and verbal route descriptions, are employed by visually impaired, blind, and deafblind travelers. On that account, we examined individual wayfinding behavior and experiences of visually impaired travelers who were tasked with the completion of a set of unfamiliar outdoor/indoor routes on the campus of Portland State University. Our methodology incorporated both qualitative and quantitative methods to evaluate the efficacy of wayfinding behavior, in general, and specifically route completion performance across a set of three routes and wayfinding aids. We expect that the insights garnered from our project drive forward the development of standards and innovation in mobile wayfinding in relation to best practices for technology-mediated pedestrian wayfinding of visually impaired, blind, and deafblind travelers in public spaces