Conclusion interviews

Below is a conclusion to the answers of each question by the interviewees

1) How often do you travel on this line?
None of the tourists had travelled on the line prior to this occasion. However, some of the tourists were traveling with swedes that had traveled on the line before.

2) Where are you from? 
We interviewed people from Germany, France, Finland, Poland, USA and Denmark. Some of the swedes were from Stockholm, and some were not.

3) What is the purpose of your visit?
The majority of those interviewed were heading towards Skansen, the Vasa Museum or Aquaria. The Swede and the Dane were both travelling with the line ferry for the pure enjoyment of the journey.

4) Why did you choose this boat?
Most of the interviewees had done some research beforehand - either on their own or by asking a guide or hotel staff. Most had mentioned the bus alternative, but felt the boat would be more enjoyable. The Frenchmen were told to take the ferry by the receptionist at their hostel.

5) How did you get a ticket? 
Most of the interviewees either had issues with the tickets, or were there with local Swedish company with SL Access cards. There were two ticked vending machines at the dock on the Slussen side, but information about which tickets that were required (with regards to the zone system) was not available, and there were many tourists in line running back and forth around the machines, trying to find more information. There is a kiosk at the dock, but it is only manned Friday-Sunday.

6) How has the travel experience been so far?
All interviewees enjoyed the boat ride itself, but most mentioned issues with finding the right location and information. The Americans and Germans would have liked to have a tourist guide on the ride. The Germans also thought the ride itself was too short. The Danes had taken the car to Slussen, and would have appreciated more help from the hotel with both informing them about the traffic situation, as well as in supporting them more with regards to tickets, parking information and suggestions for activities in the area.

7) Were there any surprises? 
All answered no, except for the Swedish family with two children, who mentioned that it was cumbersome to get the family through the ticket gates in the subway.

8) Did you find sufficient information about the route of the boat? 
Many of the groups without local Swedes weren't sure about where to get off the boat. Also, most groups mentioned the issues around getting the right tickets.

9) Would you use a smartphone application that guides you towards your destination? 
All interviewees were positive to using their smartphones for help.

10) Would an audio guide in the app be of use to you?
The results were mixed - using headphones alone would be beneficial, but not as much in a larger group because it would reduce the social interactions.

State of the art summary

These are the main conclusions we made from the state of the art analyses:

* It's very difficult to find a working official app for travelling in Stockholm, and for pretty much all other cities. In order to find the relevant information and get help with both experiences and location services, you will need to combine a route planner, a tourist guide and a ticket application, and we didn't find any good sources that combine the necessary features. The technology and data is available and the users are ready, but nobody has managed to integrate everything into a smooth experience.

* The SL travelling apps all required an internet connection. They should be possible to use offline, at least for some basic tasks. Some of the map apps had offline support, but the features were limited and map guiding was mostly available through pre-submitted routes that other users or the developers had put in.

* Location information was pretty good for the most popular activities - information was available through copied wikipedia texts and there was also some info on pricing etc.

* Available languages for most apps we looked at were Swedish, English and German. None had any Asian languages.

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State of the art analysis - Jashar

Since the rest of the group mainly focused on technology and services that were already accessible to the broad public, I decided to see if I could find out what the future may hold - more specifically in terms of augmented reality for tourism. I chose to set the bar on the level of technologies that we could juse in, such as pointing your smartphone camera at something and getting your reality augmented with more information, and perhaps also something along the idea with Google Glass, but nothing more futuristic than that. I found the eTourismLab at Bournemouth University to have a prominent presence in this area, and my analysis is based on their currently published research, as well as some proofs of concept that are available to the public, but not yet sufficiently useful for the mass market.

In general, social media has had a huge impact on travel and tourism. Over half of the participants in one study reported that they had altered their travel plans after gathering information from fellow travellers who had shared their experiences online. However, most of the planning was done in the preparation phase, while the focus shifted more to documenting and sharing with friends and family once the journey had started. There is a strong motivation among travellers to share their experiences, providing plenty of data to work with. Essentially, if a person has decided to travel from any A to any B, it is very likely that the effort of browsing through everything that is in between will be overwhelming. This is where the augmented reality (AR) technology becomes very interesting - it can allow you to get the info you need as you go along. This allows for improvising and discovering things that few others have seen, which are strong positive factors for most travellers. But what is the current state for AR for tourists?

When travelling, there are many questions that may go unanswered - "Where is the nearest vegan friendly restaurant based on where I'm standing?", "What does this sign say?" or "What is the history of that building?”. To some extent, smartphones can help in researching this at the spot, through web searching and reading Wikipedia articles. However, because of both technological and monetary barriers, the ability to do so has mostly been reserved for locals, leaving the tourists hoping that their pre-travel research and friendly strangers will solve any issues. Also, smartphone performance has been an issue in the past, limiting the possibilities to render information in real time. 

Currently, the issues with unreasonably high data charges abroad are being mitigated through roaming regulations and simplifications of telecom business models, and today’s smartphones can easily handle the workloads for most simple AR applications.

This leads us to the conclusion of this analysis – most pieces of the puzzle are in place to get things rolling, but AR for tourists hasn’t taken off yet. The research for this analysis suggests that the reason is the lack of portable mobile data plans across borders and applications that harness the huge crowdsourcing potential. Many apps are either proofs of concept, or strictly limited to a certain area, a small number of languages or a specific set of locations, with little to no possibility for users to help out with filling in the blanks. For instance, the Word Lens demo from 2010 gave us the impression that we can throw away that dictionary or history book, but in reality (pun somewhat intended) the accuracy is not nearly enough to keep you out of trouble, as it is currently a glorified version of Google Translate. Demos of apps such as GeoTravel show both the possibilities as well as the issues. Currently, the most developed apps in this category are those that map out the night sky, and similar simple things. But in order to be truly helpful to a family standing in the rain looking for vegan food, we need applications that act as a local friend rather than algorithm demos, and we still seem to have a few years to go in that regard.

Interview Transcript - Jashar

Interviewee: American woman in company of child and husband, age interval: 25-50. Interview conducted on the boat. 

Q: How often do you travel on this line?
A: First time

Q: What is the purpose of your visit?
A: A visit to the Vasa Museum

Q: Why did you choose this boat?
A: My husband did the research, but it seemed to be the most pleasant alternative

Q: How did you get your ticket?
A: We asked the SL staff early on and knew we could travel with our SL Access Card. 

Q: How has the travel experience been so far?
A: It's been nice, but it would have been much better to have a guide that could tell us about everything around us during the trip. For instance, we have no idea what this is (pointing at Gröna Lund in the distance).

Q: Where there any surprises?
A: The lack of signs and the fact that most of the subway system information was in Swedish. English is the language of the world and we expected to see more of it, at least in the more touristy areas. 

Q: Did you find sufficient information about the route of the boat?
A: No, we're not sure about when we're going to go off and where to head after that. 

Q: Would you use a smartphone application that guides you towards your destination?
A: No, we don't really use smartphones (Husband intervened: "yes we do")  Oh yes! Sure, we would use smartphones if it would help.

Q: Would an audio guide in the app be of use to you?
A: It would be better if we had a real guide on the boat. I guess it would be convenient inside the museum, but I think we'll be fine without one. 

Interview transcript

This interview was conducted on the boat. The interviewee and his friend were originally from Paris, France. The interviewee's age was between 25 and 50. A single iPhone was used to record the conversation.

Q: How often do you travel on this line?
A: My first time, we are both from Paris.

Q: What is the purpose of your visit?
A: We are going to visit the museums on the island.

Q: Why did you choose this boat?
A: We were told to do so by the interhostel, by the guy in the reception.

Q: How did you get your ticket?
A: We bought it right here.
        Follow up:
Q: Was there sufficient information about where to buy tickets?
A: No, there was no information... very little information.

Q: How has the travel experience been so far?
A: Great, amazing!

Q: Where there any surprises?
A: Nope, no surprises so far.

Q: Did you find sufficient information about the route of the boat?
A: No, we did not.

Q: Would you use a smartphone application that guides you towards your destination?
A: Yes, definitely.

Q: Would an audio guide in the app be of use to you?
A: Yes, I would use it.


Note: Interhostel is a hostel in Stockholm.

State of the art analysis

Usage of interactive displays has increased in par with technological advancement. Various types of interactive displays can today be found in subways, shopping malls and museums. MTA, New York's public transportation service, installed such interactive touch displays, called "On The Go!", at more than 30 subway stations in 2014. These displays provide a couple of notable features. Real-time train departures, maps depicting the route of subways, buses and railroads, suggestions providing users with the quickest route towards their destination. The displays can also locate the nearest ticket machine, based on an address given by the user. They also provide a phone number to emergency services. When a display isn't used, it enters a slideshow of information relevant to commuters, such as current disturbances. All of the real-time features would be rendered useless if the internet connection of a display suddenly were to die. From a tourist point of view, the displays serve a good purpose. However, there is no option to change the language of the "On The Go!", a factor that might hinder some users.

As with a lot of modern technology, users expect to be able to quickly and efficiently maneuver the dis plays to find what they're looking for. Many reviews of the "On The Go!" found that these expectations were not met.The touchscreen was not precise enough, and the amount of time it took to present a route suggestion was too long. This might have contributed to the fact that only a small amount of commuters chose the displays over the traditional paper maps. Considering the cost of one display, $15,000, further improvement of software and hardware is needed.

The usage of a display similar to the "On The Go!" could be relevant for our groups project. Issues regarding tickets and routes to tourist attractions could be solved with the use of an interactive display. The biggest downside would probably be that the user has to be on the spot to use the interactive display. Meaning it can't provide information about how to get to the ferry.

State of the art - Erik Olofsson

Since other members of the group had already chosen to look in to some of the mobile apps currently available for assisting people during their travels, I choose to look in to what services are currently available for people not in possession of or not interested in using a smartphone. I’ve mainly looked at the SL website and the company’s other services since predicted searches like “resa I Stockholm”, “tunnelbana Stockholm”, “transportation Stockholm” and “travel in Stockholm” all lead to SL’s main webpage or sites who links the traffic to it. And therefore most likely it being the first thing users are coming in contact with when in search for information about transportation in Stockholm. This is a screenshot of the main page which you are met with, it should be noted that the site comes in both English and Swedish versions. This is a screenshot of the Swedish version since some of the functions like “Mitt SL” and the ability to buy a ticket are not present in the international versions. This could possibly be since English speakers aren’t expected to be regular customers, instead the English site tells the user to download the company’s app or use one of the more traditional ways of paying for a ticket.

Both versions of the site provides a lot of information including the timetables of the different lines, current deviations, ways of acquiring a ticket, terms of use and so on. Along with this also comes an interactive map built with a trip planner who can take in to consideration things like walking distance, transportation type, intermediate stops and so on. The website also points users towards a twenty-four hour phone number which they can call for added support

While trying the site it became apparent that a lot of thought had gone in to designing the user interface and I personally didn’t have a problem navigating through the different menus to find what I was searching for. The state of the art analysis I’ve conducted with the expectations of uncovering the flaws with the website of SL has instead made it apparent of the possible improvements that could be made to the mobile apps which I’m a frequent user of. Neither of the popular apps “SL-biljetter” or “Res I Sthlm” have the same sophisticated trip planner as the website provides, shows relevant news or have the options of managing ones SL-card. So in conclusion I hypostasize that people who only have access to an computer and an internet connection in many cases are receiving a more expansive service that the smartphone users (with the obvious downside of being stationary) and that these services could be added to the mobile users for a better user experience. 

Interview - Erik Olofsson

I conducted the interview on a weekday, the weather was cloudy and it had just stopped raining. The group questioned consisted of a woman and two toddlers. They were all fluent in swedish and had previous experience using stockholm's public transportation.

Question: How often do you travel on this line?

Answer: A couple of times a year.

Question: Where are you from?

Answer: I’m from Söderort (an area to the south of the central part of Stockholm).

Question: What is the purpose of your visit?

Answer: We’re visiting the aquarium  

Question: Age interval? 0-25, 25-50, 50+

Answer: The woman was of age 25-50, and the kids were well under 25.

Question: Why did you choose this boat?

Answer: I choose this over buss because of possible delays and also because I prefer the experience over other ways of transportation.

Question: How did you get a ticket?

Answer: I used my SL-card which I charge using the vending machines.

Question: How has the travelling experience been so far?

Answer: It’s been satisfactory.

Question: Were there any surprises?

Answer: I had problem getting children through the automated gates in the subway (she had been traveling by subway before switching to the ferry).

Question: Did you find sufficient information about the route of the boat?

Answer: Yes, using the internet I can find the information I need when traveling in stockholm.

Question: Would you use a smartphone application that guides you towards your destination?

Answer: Yes I would.

Question: Would an audio guide in the app be of use to you?

Answer: No, not really.

State-of-the-Art analysis - War

I have personally looked at mobile applications and the ones that I have based my analysis on are these applications Res I STHLM: SL Reseplanerare and Stockholm Travel Guide by Triposo with offline maps.

Res I STHLM: This application is SL own smartphone application that have been developed for people who want to travel with SL and get quick information about the travel route from a point A to point B. When the user opens the application the first thing you do is to type in your current location or its uses the smartphone’s location to locate the nearest station and then you enter your destination. The target group of this application is people who have access to a smartphone so it excludes many elders due to the fact that many elders don’t own a smartphone.

Res I STHLM application, this is the first thing that comes up when you open the application.

These are the pro and cons with this smartphone application:

Pro:

·      All public transportation in Stockholm is available.

·      The application provides timetables.

·      It warns the user delays and disturbances occur in the transportation.

·      Uses your current location as departure place.

·      You can choose the time you want to travel.

·      You can choose specific transportation.

·      Map is provided to show the user the travel route.

Cons:

·      Doesn’t work offline.

·      The user cannot change the language in the application.

·      No information in how to get from the tram station to the destination the user wants.

These are some of the use cases that the user can se.

Stockholm Travel Guide…: This application is for tourist who is visiting Stockholm. It offers information about Stockholm that can be very useful for tourists, it shows information of different categories Museums, Hotels, Tours, Mini Guides, Sightseeing, Nightlife etc. This application also offers variety of other functions, it’s not just an application that guides tourist around. The tourist can in the app read about Sweden’s History, culture, food and learn some practical Swedish phrases. The target group of this application is tourists who are visiting Stockholm and these tourists are people who have a smartphone and are comfortable with using their smartphone.

Stockholm Travel Guide... application, this is the first thing that comes up when you open the application. 

These are the pro and cons with this smartphone application:

Pro:

·      Works offline.

·      Users can read reviews that have been created from other users.

·      General information about places like opening hour, price, contact information, directions etc.

·      Users can create city walks that guide them through different museum, churches, famous buildings etc.

Cons:

·      Doesn’t show the users how to get to their destination via public transportation.

·      The users can’t purchase tickets via the application.

·      The user cannot change the language in the application.

Some of the categories the users can choose to look up. 

This is what it looks like when a user want to find information about ex. a museum. In this case it choose some detail information of Vasamuseet.

Analysis: These two smartphone applications are two very different applications, the Res I STHLM is mainly for people who want to travel with the public transportation in Stockholm and Stockholm Travel Guide is almost the complete travel guide for tourists. From the pilot studies that we have done, we in the group considered of making a smartphone application that almost in a way is similar to the Stockholm Travel Guide application but the idea that we discussed in the group had some improvements compered to this application. Because the tourist needs a guide that guides them from the boat terminal to Vasa museum none of the app that I have looked at offers this. The main difference between these applications is that Stockholm Travel Guide works also offline. Both applications are very User-friendly especially the application Res I STHLM, when you open the application the first thing you do is to plan your route where you can choose which time you want to travel and if the user want to exclude some types of transportation the user can change that in the application etc. The Stockholm Travel Guide is also user-friendly but some elder people may have it difficult to navigate through the application due to the fact that it has many functions. So in conclusion the usability of these two applications are simple to use and both of these application have a variety of different use cases, but one downside with Stockholm Travel Guide is that it doesn’t offer any public transportation.

The Interview- War

The picture was taken from Skeppsbrokajen, to show how the boat terminal where people buy there tickets and wait for the boat looks like.

I interviewed two persons that were on the boat together, one exchange student from Finland and the other one were from Sweden but not from Stockholm. The interviewed took place on the boat.

Question: How often do you travel on this line?

Answer: I have travel on this line few times, but this is the first time for my friend to travel on this line.

Question: Where are you from?

Answer: I’m from Sweden and my friend is an exchange student from Finland.

Question: What is the purpose of your visit?

Answer: To visit Skansen.

Question: Age interval? 0-25, 25-50, 50+

Answer: Both were in the age interval 0-25.

Question: Why did you choose this boat?

Answer: We didn’t choose this boat, our friend wanted to travel with this boat but she got sick and we thought that we should go with the boat.

Question: How did you get a ticket?

Answer: We both have SL access card, so I already knew that we could travel with these.

Question: How has the travelling experience been so far?

Answer: So far its has been great.

Question: Where there any surprises?

Answer: So far there have not been any surprises.

Question: Did you find sufficient information about the route of the boat?

Answer: We didn’t need any information due to the fact that I have earlier travel on this line.

Question: Would you use a smartphone application that guides you towards your destination?

Answer: Yes we both would use a smartphone application and especially my friend says that it would very useful due to the fact that she doesn’t have any local knowledge of Stockholm.

Question: Would an audio guide in the app be of use to you?

Answer: Yes, why not.