Augmented Reality Campus Exploration Application Incorporating Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion

Abstract

Augmented Reality (AR) is one of the most promising technologies with many practical applications, enhancing/augmenting the real world with virtual information/objects. With advances in AR technology and affordable AR hardware, AR has widely been used in training, classroom education, entertainment, tourism, public safety, retail, and many others. This paper presents an AR application that provides real-time information for campus exploration incorporating Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI). Many mobile AR applications have been developed for campus tours to help new students and visitors identify campus buildings and their services. However, from the User Experience (UX) design perspective, simply providing general information about each building may not be sufficient for students who need specific information based on their backgrounds and particular needs. The mobile AR application, TWUExplorAR, presented in this paper, incorporates the concept of EDI by overlaying the landmark information tailored to each user’s background and needs, thus improving UX. The paper outlines the background and related work, describes the development of the AR application, illustrates the incorporation of EDI in the application, summarizes the usability tests, and suggests future improvements.