Interactive location-based services: problems and perspectives on the example of a cultural site

Abstract

In 2008, an interactive location-based service application had been developed to offer and create cultural–historical landscape information via mobile data transmission. This article presents the results of user test, especially the usability, the tester's experiences and behaviours. The application provides location-based, partly route-dependent, multimedia-packed information (video, photo, sound and text format). Besides, it allows the user to record, store and upload their own experiences (by text, photo or video format). The stored data can be shared with others when they visit the same locations. All of these features are made available via a service-oriented architecture. The user test was carried out in the Dutch Grebbelinie area. The users hiked or biked by different routes through the area. The user test comprises three components: an online application form to find the social class stratification and demographic signature of the testers, an actual field trip by which the activities of the testers were monitored by tracking the walked or biked trajectories and logging the used functions of the application and the user requests. Finally, a questionnaire is filled in immediately after the field trip to find out the usability of the application and personal interest. Results of the user test show the technology acceptance of the respondents, impact on their experiencing of the environment and their personal behaviour. In general, from the project and especially the user test, we learnt many lessons which we summarised by what we called the PLAIT-F approach. In follow-up studies, we intend to follow this approach.