Mombasa as an International Tourist Attraction Center - Coursework Example

CS346-1501A-01 User Interface Design Phase 2 Individual Project Tour guide agent: Mombasa, Kenya Table of Contents Project Outline 2 Introduction 2 Application functions 2 User Interface Technical requirements 4 Kiosk unit 4 Smartphone 4 User Interface Human interaction requirement 5 Kiosk Units 5 Smartphone 5 Physically challenged 6 Design 1 6 Design 2 8 Design 3 10 Recommendation for future improvements 11 Conclusion 12 References 13 Project Outline Introduction Mombasa is an international tourist attraction center. The city provides a number of tourist attraction zones, which combines with the tropical environment, are the basis for tourist attraction. Most people would like to be in this place. Tourist from all over the world flock here to enjoy the tropic sun. Other tourist attractions are Watersports from dolphin sporting, diving and deep-sea fishing. Some of the attraction sites are fort Jesus, Haller Park, Mombasa marine national park, North coast beaches, Old Town, South coast beaches, Mombasa Tusks, Mombasa village center, Mombolulu workshops and cultural center, and Mombasa Go-Kart (MombasaInfo, 2013). All these attraction sites are located miles away from each other, hence the need for a tour agent to help travelers move around the city with ease. Given that the tourists are usually new to this environment, there is a need to develop a tour guide agent to help them move around the city with ease. The many categories of areas that each person visiting this attraction site need to access are also distance away and in various locations. Some of the area that the user should consider visiting area: Entertainment area, tourist attraction sites, sand beach zones, hotels and direction, boarding rooms and direction, refiling station locations (Todd Simcock). Application functions A tourist mostly will be new to his or her environment. In such cases it is possible to get confused and visit sites that he/she never intended to visit. To avoid this, this application provides functionality that assists users make decisions before visiting some of these tourist zones. To achieve this, the application will be required to provide the different capabilities of a tourist guide. Both User Kiosk and Smartphone applications should provide the following functions (Todd Simcock): Display user’s location graphically bases on user location Mobile devices should provide limited yet effective view of the locations Should provide function for tours to be created and uploaded to the system Provide relevant information required to navigate through the city Function smoothly in outdoor environment Provide HTML effective viewing for information Provision of travel information such as time, costs and other travel information Providing hotel information such as charges and facilities available. Should provide function to add a tourist destination and a short description of the tourist site. Provide user interface tools such as microphone, touch screen, stylus pen for helping users interact with the system. Also a means to input and process the input provided by the user Users also want application that is both fast and accurate in the field in this regard, the application is required to provide the following capabilities (Konstantinos G. Zografos): Provide real time information e.g. location of the user Provide good graphics that most users will enjoy using Provide good performance even under poor network conditions- This will enable tour information be available whenever it is needed. Secure data communication User Interface Technical requirements Kiosk unit The user interface of this application in multimedia in nature. Users will have to interact with graphics, text, voice, and touch screen. This environment can be availed through computer screen not less than 480x600. The screen is optimized to accept these form of inputs. The kiosk should also provide keyboard, microphone and text display capabilities. This will help users maximize their interaction with the system. The system shall provide good graphics within the user interface that can be used by any person in his/her daily work. Maps and guided displayed will be of high quality, making sure correct delivery of services to the clients. Smartphone The application is to be used both for kiosk units and mobile devices. The application shall be able to support screen not devices with small to high resolution (780x1024). The screen shall be touch enabled to enable device size compression. Also the Screen should be able to display graphics and text to the users. For users with smart phone, the smartphone should provide voice input capability to enable interaction with users with disability. User Interface Human interaction requirement Kiosk Units Desktop computers provide limited capability to voice input and touch capability. This implies that the user should install the microphone and a touch pad or mouse to provide capabilities similar to touch screen. This may also require special software’s to interact with these devices and make the functionality of the application complete. Smartphone User interaction is one of the target that many application programmers strive to achieve when creating mobile apps. The aim is to provide an app that will enable user to enter information into the system using text, voice or touch sensitive screen. When any of these are used, the system should provide the correct feedback to the user. Thus the app is supposed to enable a variety of interaction mechanisms with respect to user interface. Most smartphone come integrated with these features hence no need for special hardware. Using these methods, the user interaction with the system will be made easier. Also, it makes sure that the system can reach a variety of users from normal users to physically challenged users. Physically challenged The system to be shall provide various facilities to enable persons with disability interact with the system. This will enable a wide range of capabilities to the users and reach a larger population. Voice input will help those with disability interact with the system through speaking to the system. The system shall process this voice input and make intelligent guess of user requirements. This facility will help handicapped users who cannot be able to type. The system in response shall be able to provide the output in readable form. Text output shall be provided for users with hearing problem. Text output shall be read around by the system to help users who are visually impaired. Design 1 Given below is the design # 1 for this project: In this design, the top of the page contains the logo and banner of the company. Under the banner, there are some menus given in the horizontal direction, which are: entertaining area, sand beach zones and hotels. In addition, under the menus there are some other links of the pages where a user can find information about the boarding rooms and refilling stations. Additionally, the page also contains the place to view the current location of the user. Moreover, it also contains the links of the nearest beach and hotel to the user locations. User can also select the entertaining areas, locations and hotels, which other users visit most. And on the bottom of the home page a user can see the Facebook page link. The page is designed by keeping in mind all the usability requirements. Hence, it is very easy for a user to locate the desired information without wasting time. Design 2 Design 2 presents the same design of the page using a different color and formatting scheme: In this design on the top area, which is called header contains a banner and a logo. And below there are some links that allow a user to navigate between various links such as entertaining area, beach zone, hotels and boarding rooms. Apart from these links, the page also contains various other links such as nearest hotels and beach zone. The page also contains a link to allow a user to create his/ her own destination. And the page also allows a user to join the company through its web site. Design 3 In this design on the header a user can see the banner and logo of the company. And below this user can see their current location along with the nearest hotels and beach zone. And below this link a user can also see the boarding rooms and refilling location. User can also create his/ her destination. And can also join the Facebook page of the company. These pages are designed by keeping in mind the usability and compatibility aspects of web site design. In this scenario, a web page will appear in the same manner on the mobile device as it is displayed in the computer. Recommendation for future improvements This application will be working on both Mobile and computer based system. It is important to note that, to provide the best user experience, the application cab be made to learn and store the knowledge in such a way that it can use this knowledge in future when guiding the user. Also, the application may need to learn about user location in order to help them depending on their context without blocking other possibilities. Conclusion This application will provide tour guide information in real-time both on desktop computers and smartphone devices and similar devices. The information provided shall be accurate and consistent for different users. References Konstantinos G. Zografos, M. A. (n.d.). A TRAVEL & TOURISM INFORMATION SYSTEM. Athens: Athens University of Economics & Business (AUEB). MombasaInfo. (2013). Travel Guide. Retrieved from mombasainfo: http://www.mombasa.info Todd Simcock, S. P. (n.d.). Developing a Location Based Tourist Guide Application. Mawson Lakes Boulevard: School of Computer and Information Science University of South Australia. Read More