—In this paper we introduce ”Tag in the Park”, a mobile platform merging short-range wireless communication and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to create an interactive gamified experience through virtual treasure hunts. Central to this is a mobile app that revolves around the interaction with a network of Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons and Near Field Communication (NFC) tags. These miniature smart devices provide contextual information, AI challenges, quizzes and nudges for a gamified, and active visitor experience which can help increase engagement and promote physical activity. ”Tag in The Park” is currently available for download on both Google Play and Apple Store and the platform is fully set up and open to visitors at Rufford Abbey Park, Nottinghamshire. Results indicate the mobile platform helps engage visitors, encourages exploration and increases visitor economy.

Tag in the Park: Paving the way for Proximity-Based AI Pervasive Games

Abstract. Although Global Positioning System (GPS) is widely used in outdoor location-based services, it still lacks precision due to obstacles that reduce its performance, such as near tall buildings, with bad weather conditions, and under tree canopies. In some situations, inaccurate localization or delay in getting location locks can adversely affect some location-based services’ functionality. Furthermore, it might make these services less efficient or even completely useless, especially when the receiver device has no SIM card or when the service requires a precision higher than three meters. As a solution to this issue, this study designs, develops, and evaluates a prototype location-based system that uses Bluetooth Low Energy beacons for short-range positioning in outdoor environments as a GPS alternative. The proposed system is a game that includes navigational tasks, which can be accomplished by reaching the proximity of two meters from the beacon’s location. The study involved conducting an experiment outdoors with a focus on areas where GPS signals are degraded to assess our proposed system’s efficiency and feasibility compared to the usage of GPS. The results proved BLE beacons’ ability to provide better positioning results than GPS, not only in terms of accuracy but also in terms of stability of positioning results over time. Based on the findings, the study outlines a set of guidelines to be considered in choosing a suitable positioning technology.


Experimental evaluation of using BLE beacon for outdoor positioning in GPS-denied environment

Abstract. For a long time, research has investigated spatial behaviour of people in navigation research and identified different wayfinding strategies. Researchers agree, that the environment with its structure and features influences the wayfinding strategies. The present paper presents a tool to investigate people’s strategies during navigation tasks. GeoGami, an educational geogame fostering navigational map reading skills, can be used to collect trajectories of people navigating through an environment. We developed a semantically annotated representation of the environment and clustered the resulting trajectories according to their spatio-temporal and semantic similarity. The result shows the existence of groups of common spatial patterns along with individual spatial behaviours that cannot be grouped into a cluster.


https://doi.org/10.5194/agile-giss-4-41-2023

Yousef Qamaz

Papers

Experimental evaluation of using BLE beacon for outdoor positioning in GPS-denied environment

Individualization in Spatial Behaviour and Map Reading