Implementing Tour Guides for Travellers

The impending "intelligent car" scenario can have a great impact on improving the quality of life of a number of citizens by reducing wasted time and enhancing interaction with the environment. In this article, the authors describe their development of tour guides on palmtop computers that present tourists with high-quality multimedia information and services. An important added value of tour guides on palmtop computers is that they can assist the user in the real-time event (e.g., in a museum or while walking in a city) and during the in-car trip as well. However, the overall surrounding environment and the contextual tasks performed by the user are different. In-car use is challenging because it requires adapting the interaction modes of the user to the strict safety constraints of driving. The authors have explored these issues in the development of a tour guide for the Castellon region of Spain. In this article, they present ideas and discuss preliminary findings on their interface design. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.