A real-world study of an audio-tactile tourist guide

This paper reports on the in-context evaluation of an audio-tactile interactive tourist guide - one test was done in a medieval city center, and the other was done at an archaeological site. The activity theory framework was used as a perspective to guide design, field-study and analysis. The evaluation shows that the guide allows users to experience an augmented reality, while keeping the environment in focus (in contrast with the common key-hole like experience that on-screen augmented reality generates). The evaluation also confirms the usefulness of extending the vibrational feedback to convey also distance information as well as directional information.