A Usability Study on a Real-Time Travel Information System in 3G Mobile Phone Applications

• Main Authors: Jeng-Min Liao, 廖正閔
• Other Authors: Meng-Dar Shieh
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2006
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/13891386073325463426

碩士 === 國立成功大學 === 工業設計學系碩博士班 === 94 === The purpose of this research is to construct a real-time travel information system of cellular phones. The usability evaluation method is used to analyze and improve the user interface design of the system. With the help the system, tourists can retrieve real-time travel information quickly and efficiently. Because of the improvement of the quality of life, travel activities increase dramatically these years. It is healthy to tour around and to relax oneself after an extensive hardworking. It is time to refresh one’s mind and to relieve one’s pressure from workload through recreational activities. Therefore, it would be very helpful if tourists can retrieve real-time information about attractions via cellular phones or mobile devices. Thanks to the well established infrastructure of the 3G wireless communication network, the real-time information retrieval becomes feasible and applicable. This research proposes a user interface design study of a real-time travel information system using 3G wireless communication technique. The system not only provides regular tourism information but also provides real-time travel information, which includes the real-time video and information of each attraction, the best travel route, the climate, the traffic situation, etc. This can help tourists make their tour planning and schedule beforehand or in real-time during traveling. In order to develop this real-time travel information system, this research searches and analyzes the information of the related travel websites to propose a systematic conception framework. Next, a heuristic evaluation method is used to gather opinions and suggestions from 5 chosen experts, who have great experience in the user interface design. The system is modified according to the comments from the experts. The modified system is evaluated by 33 users (5 frequent users and 28 new users in 3G applications) using a questionnaire. The questionnaire is further analyzed using the Performance Measures Method and One-Way ANOVA analysis. This research not only builds a user-friendly real-time travel information system but also discover four interesting results: (1) The top-down information style is easier for user to understand. (2) Reading time of each single page should be limited within five seconds. Over five seconds, user will be in a fidget. (3) Special-purpose button group lets user learn fast and it is easier to transfer the user experience to other cell phones’ manipulation to shorten the learning period. (4) The real-time video transmitted from attraction spots can help tourists making the decision while traveling. The 3G communication service not only promotes travel interest but also improves the travel quality.