Towards Improvement of UX Using Gamification for Public Artistic and Historical Artifacts in AR

Abstract

Recently, Augmented Reality (AR) applications have emerged as a powerful tool to empower users in touristic use cases, for example, by recreating digital representations of lost or difficult accessible artifacts. More emphasis has been put on researching possible solutions for tourism with AR technology. As part of such a research project, an AR touristic experience was designed to enhance historical artifacts, promote surroundings exploration, and study how to improve the User Experience (UX). This resulted in developing an engaging and interactive cross-platform AR mobile application. The final application includes multiple gamified reward systems, such as collecting points for each artistic/historical spot visited. Users’ available time while visiting or exploring was also considered in the design of the experience, so the option to choose between complete and short routes was offered. Following the intended route was supported by instructing the users to collect a sequence of AR coins placed based on GPS functionalities. Despite some limitations, especially given by the GPS feature used to support route navigation, the analysis showed that the developed AR application was evaluated as very good in terms of usability score. This technical limitation was more evident in users that played the experience with old-generation smartphones. The assessment of the developed application has concluded that the attention paid to features, content, and duration of the activity has a positive impact, succeeding both in terms of product results and users’ satisfaction.