A Collaborative Tourist System Using Serious Games

• Type: Article in International Conference Proceedings Book
• Date: 2013

Authors

Fernandes, RPA (Author) Other; Almeida, JE (Author) Other; Rosaldo J. F. Rossetti (Author) FEUP

Conference proceedings International

Title: World Conference on Information Systems and Technologies (WorldCIST)

Pages: 725-734

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 10 Citations

Scopus - 5 Citations

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-008-AD5

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-36981-0_67

Abstract (EN): Smartphones are trending and most tourists already own one. Many applications exist for smartphones, in order to help tourists in their journeys. Applications available share the same problem, though: content may not be complete or updated and, they lack user feedback. The best information about a city is usually held by locals, or by recent visitors. An application fed and maintained by its users, seems a good solution to improve the information contained in mobile applications for tourists. Motivating travelers to share their knowledge, in a long-term basis, poses a problem. We propose to tackle that problem through the use of Serious Games, to achieve user's collaboration in the building and maintenance of a tourism database. A prototype for Android platform was developed and deployed. A group of 20 individuals tested the application in the terrain. Data was collected from their experience. A survey to the users showed their feelings towards this new experience. Results showed that Serious Games are a viable approach to achieve several objectives. Users from the test group showed to be interested in the gaming environment, enabling them to share their knowledge, possibly in a long term basis.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 10