Vulnerable Users’ Perceptions of Transport Technologies

As the global population continues to grow, age and urbanize, it is vital to provide accessible transport so that neither ageing nor disability constitute barriers to social inclusion. While technology can enhance urban access, there is a need to study the ways by which transport technologies - real-time information, pedestrian navigation, surveillance, and road pricing - could be more effectively adopted by users. The reason for this is that some people, and particularly vulnerable populations, are still likely to reluctantly use (or even avoid using) technologies perceived as 'unknown' and 'complicated'. Based on evidence from British and Swedish case studies on older people's perceptions of the aforementioned transport technologies, as well as on a Swedish case study of visually impaired people's perceptions, this article makes the case that technology is only one tool in a complex socio-technical system, and one which brings challenges. The authors also suggest that although vulnerable populations are not homogeneous when expressing attitudes towards transport technologies, their assessment criteria tend to be 'pro-social' as they usually consider that the societal benefits outweigh the personal benefits. Emphasising aspects linked to the technologies' pro-social potential or relevance to the individual user could increase acceptance

Conception of a Personalized Parking Assistant Application

Since assessment of entire travel chains (ETC) depends on the properties of its elements, information provision in final phase of driving, namely parking movements is required. In order to enhance perceived quality, a personalization method for parking assistant applications (PAA) has been devised. Several PAAs have been compared and the parking habits and expectations of the travellers have been revealed.As it turned out all of the innovative properties are still not combined into one PAA, they can be found only partially. Furthermore, personalized information is considerably important for travellers, however the diversity of their needs is less than it was supposed at the beginning of the research. Based on these results conception of the parking assistant system (PAS) has been framed. For demonstration of the operation an application has also been developed. Finally the directions of the further research have been discussed

Mental maps and the use of sensory information by blind and partially sighted people

This article aims to fill an important gap in the literature by reporting on blind and partially sighted people's use of spatial representations (mental maps) from their perspective and when travelling on real routes. The results presented here were obtained from semi-structured interviews with 100 blind and partially sighted people in five different countries. They are intended to answer three questions about the representation of space by blind and partially sighted people, how these representations are used to support travel, and the implications for the design of travel aids and orientation and mobility training. They show that blind and partially sighted people do have spatial representations and that a number of them explicitly use the term mental map. This article discusses the variety of approaches to spatial representations, including the sensory modalities used, the use of global or local representations, and the applications to support travel. The conclusions summarize the answers to the three questions and include a two-level preliminary classification of the spatial representations of blind and partially sighted people

An Airport Experience Framework from a Tourism Perspective

This study, by integrating the perspectives of sociological, psychological, and service marketing and management, all of which affect the passenger experience, proposes a theoretical framework for the creation of the airport experience in relation to tourism. This research responds to the current phenomenon in which airports are offering other types of experiences within the airport terminal, expanding the role of an airport from being a utility for transportation into a place where various and different values can be offered. This research explores the current airport experience and adds to research on airport experience by clarifying ten key components necessary for airport passenger experience propositions based on existing research, the current industry phenomena, and the empirical study. The paper also underlines those components that can enhance passenger experience in relation to tourism and highlights the role that airports contribute to a destination

City Tells:

City Tells. Guidelines to an Emotional Wayfinding System were developed to provide wayfinding information to visitors walking through historic environments and to ensure that unknown urban places become more welcoming, easier to navigate and more enjoyable for both visitors and tourists

Enhancing customer experience in Geneva International Airport through Augmented Reality

Nowadays, airports are striving to offer a great customer experience within their infrastructure. Because of that, there is a need for airports around the world to diversify their revenue to offer the best infrastructure possible and accommodate the increasing growth of passengers travelling by air. Thus, airports are using technology to support their operations, to facilitate passengers’ journey, to increase in efficiency and to enhance customer experience. In 2017, Geneva Airport has seen an increase in the number of passengers by 4.95% from the year 2016. Thus, the airport welcomed 17,4 million passengers and the number of passengers’ increases yearly. The Aeronautical Infrastructure Sector Plan (PSIA) has forecasted that passenger numbers would reach 25 million by 2030 at Geneva Airport. Hence, it seems important for Geneva Airport to find solutions to accommodate the increase in arrivals passenger while considering the opinion of the different stakeholders. Augmented Reality is promising to change the travel experience, to improve airport operations and to enhance passengers journey. Thus, the main purpose of this research paper is to assess if customer experience at Geneva Airport can be enhanced with Augmented Reality technology by the formulation of two hypotheses. The end goal is to make recommendations to Geneva Airport on enhancing passengers’ experience through Augmented Reality during their journey at the airport. Thus, there is a need to determine passengers’ satisfaction about their last experience at the airport and find if the implementation of AR technology can be a solution to increase travellers’ satisfaction. The research methods include data collection through interviews, observation days and an online survey, to collect various information on travellers’ demographic, behaviours, travelling profile, knowledge on Augmented Reality, technology profile and to test the two hypotheses on the passengers of Geneva Airport to assess their interest and see if it can enhance their experience. The results of this study show that travellers of Geneva Airport have an interest in Augmented Reality and have the willingness to use it. Passengers mostly use their phone during their journey at the airport and the majority uses it for entertainment purpose. The recommendations are for Geneva Airport to create a mobile prototype of the Treasure Hunting game to be tested during summer holidays among travellers and create a partnership with Geneva Tourism, to extend the game to different areas even inside Geneva city and offering new episodes

Dynamic navigation indoor map using Wi-Fi fingerprinting mobile technology

This paper presents the exploitation of Wi-Fi signals sensors using fingerprinting method to capture the location and provide the possible navigation paths. Such approach is practical because current smartphones nowadays are equipped with inertial sensors that can capture the Wi-Fi signals from the Wi-Fi’s access points inside the building. From the comparative study conducted, the AnyPlace development tool is used for the development of dynamic navigation indoor map. Its components, namely; Architect, Viewer, Navigator and Logger are used for different specific functions. As a case study, we implement the proposed approach to guide user for navigation in Sunway Pyramid Shopping Mall, Malaysia as floor plan as well as using Google Maps as the base map for prove of concept. From the developer point of view, it is observed that the proposed approach is viable to create a dynamic navigation indoor map provided that the floor plans must be generated first. Such plan should be integrated with the SDK tool to work with the navigation APIs. It is hoped that the proposed work can be extended for more complex indoor map for better implementatio

Using a Smart City IoT to Incentivise and Target Shifts in Mobility Behaviour-Is It a Piece of Pie?

The work presented in this paper is a central part of the research and development in the SUNSET project (contract No. 270228), supported by the 7th Framework Research Program funded by the European Commission. The authors also acknowledge the support of other SUNSET consortium members in helping to create and evaluate the SUNSET tripzoom system

Who relies on mobile payment systems when they are on vacation? A segmentation analysis

Despite the growth of mobile phone use in travel planning, the number of tourists that adopt mobile payments (m-payments) is not high. As tourist trust in m-payment has been identified as an essential factor in m-transaction behaviour, this study contributes with a segmentation and a characterization of tourists based on their trust in m-payments. An online survey of Spanish tourists who use smartphones for travel purposes was conducted to collect the data. Utilizing cluster analysis, the data indicate that heterogeneity exists and that tourists can be classified into three segments depending on their trust in m-payments: tourists with high trust in m-payments, tourists with medium trust in m-payments and tourists with low trust in m-payments. Moreover, in terms of the characterization of these three segments, Pearson´s Chi-square found that they show different demographic characteristics. While tourists who travel for pleasure three or more times per year, men, tourists aged between 25 and 34 and the self-employed are overrepresented in users with high trust in m-payments, tourists who travel for pleasure once a year, women and users older than 45 years of age are overrepresented in users with low trust in m-payments. The segments identified will allow tourism companies to adapt their m-payment strategies

Travel chains in urban public transportation: Identifying user needs, travel strategies, and travel information system improvements

The implementation of a functional public transportation network has many benefits for a city, among other things, a way of sustainable mobility. Today, urban areas face the challenge of keeping up with technological trends and encouraging mobility activities using public transportation. For this reason, it is important to understand public transportation user behavior and, consequently, the motives and challenges related to urban travel. Research in the field of urban transportation mainly focuses on systematic and network-related issues to improve the travel experience. However, examining urban travel from a user’s perspective is equally essential to improving a city’s transportation network. With the help of twenty participants, an extensive travel study in the urban area of Zurich took place. The research design consists of a three-step mixed method approach. Data on travel behavior, mobility preferences, and information needs are obtained. The data is explored using an advanced travel chain structure, revealing results in the context of individual travel phases. The results show that urban travel relies heavily on the information apps provide, especially when planning. This need is mainly bound to spatial and temporal properties, for which app elements such as maps, dynamic timetables, and real-time information are most valued. Furthermore, travel using public transportation is approached by evaluating suggested routes according to the journey’s duration, efficiency, and complexity. However, decisions are often based on familiarity with the general area or interchange points. Uncertainties during urban travel are mitigated by walking when suitable, avoiding complex interchanges, and monitoring all phases with the help of an app. User results also indicate no serious issues regarding the City of Zurich as a public transportation provider. Nonetheless, measures could include integrating crowdsourced and context-aware data to meet the demands of adaptive and accurate travel information needs. The broader implications of the thesis outcome support cities and transportation service providers in understanding travel behavior. Consequently, this insight enables them to address specific needs and thus encourage sustainable mobility