Developing a location-aware mobile guide system for GLAMs based on TAPIR sound tag: A case study of the Lee Ungno Museum

Abstract

With the emergence of new mobile media, Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums (GLAMs) have paid attention to interactive context-aware mobile guide systems that can provide visitors with a customized experience based on their location and movement. However, existing location-aware guide systems using GPS, Wi-Fi, QR Code, NFC, RFID, etc. tend to overlook the special conditions of GLAM environments, often require additional hardware, and have shortcomings like inaccurate identification, high cost, and low usability. This project aims to develop a novel location-aware mobile guide system for GLAMs that can overcome such limitations and offer visitors a tailored experience. To this end, we utilize "Theoretically Audible but Practically Inaudible Range (TAPIR)" sound tag-based data communication and location detection using audio signals within the human hearing range (typically between 18 to 22 kHz). This paper describes the TAPIR sound tag-based mobile guide system, and it discusses the first user evaluation result of the guide we developed for Lee Ungno Museum. © 2014 Springer International Publishing.