ABSTRACT
Throughout human history, constant progress has been made in landscape tour technology. In the first generation, hand drawn landscape maps were often used to guide visitors around a location’s sights. Improvements made in the second generation allowed a professional guide, using a microphone, to directly talk to visitors through wireless receiver’s linked to an earpiece. The third generation uses a location-based landscape tour, by having the visitor carry a wireless sensor, audio player and earpiece. When the visitor reaches a particular location, the sensor detects an identification (ID) code from a transmitter, this ID code allows the audio player to determine which piece of pre-recorded audio guide is played, according to the visitor’s location. Once the visitor leaves the specific range of the transmitter, the audio will automatically stop. This location-based landscape tour does not direct the user’s field of vision. Thus, once at a location, after the wireless sensor has determined the ID code and the audio has begun to play, the user needs to identify the particular object the guide is describing which may take some time or be quite difficult, especially when the object in question is something less obvious. In order to resolve this problem, the directive location landscape tour service was developed, which can determine the user’s orientation when providing the audio guide service for a location. This was developed for use with wearable Augmented Reality (AR) glass, which also reduces the chance of accidents caused by not paying attention to surroundings while looking down at a handheld device. The service pairs Global Positioning System (GPS) with an electronic map to replace both the use of traditional landscape maps and wireless sensors; it also uses an electronic compass to determine the user’s orientation and suitably pairs it with the audio guide. In the previous generation of landscape tour technology, a single location could only play a single piece of audio; this new service allows multiple recordings to play in a location, depending on the direction the user is facing. This system is known as a directive location-based landscape tour service, using augmented reality glass.
