Abstract
In recent years there has been a growing interest in the use of multimedia mobile guides in museum environments. Mobile devices have the capabilities to detect the user context and to provide pieces of information suitable to help visitors discover and follow the logical and emotional connections that develop during the visit. In this scenario, location based services (LBS) currently represent an asset, and the choice of the technology to determine users' position, combined with the definition of methods that can effectively convey information, become key issues in the design process. In this work, we present Museum Assistant (MusA), a general framework for the development of multimedia interactive guides for mobile devices. Its main feature is a vision-based indoor positioning system that allows the provision of several LBS, from way-finding to the contextualized communication of cultural contents, aimed at providing a meaningful exploration of exhibits according to visitors' personal interest and curiosity. Starting from the thorough description of the system architecture, the article presents the implementation of two mobile guides, developed to respectively address adults and children, and discusses the evaluation of the user experience and the visitors' appreciation of these applications.
Highlights
Multimedia interactive guides are rapidly replacing the old-fashioned audio and textual guides in city and museum tours
In order to answer these and other research questions, in this paper we present Museum Assistant (MusA), a general framework offering a set of predefined tools and functionalities that can be used to develop flexible and compelling multimedia interactive guides for mobile devices
Besides describing MusA functionalities, we present the implementation of two mobile applications based on this framework and focused on the Palazzo Madama-Museo
Summary
Multimedia interactive guides are rapidly replacing the old-fashioned audio and textual guides in city and museum tours. In order to answer these and other research questions, in this paper we present Museum Assistant (MusA), a general framework offering a set of predefined tools and functionalities that can be used to develop flexible and compelling multimedia interactive guides for mobile devices These guides are aimed at helping to provide a meaningful exploration of exhibits and cultural venues according to the personal interest and curiosity of visitors, supporting them with contextualized information while, at the same time, providing personalized ways of managing their visit path and access to cultural contents.
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