Designing and Developing a Travel-Based Android Application

Designing and Developing a Travel-Based Android Application

A Major Qualifying Project Report: submitted to the Faculty of the

WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the

Degree of Bachelor of Science by

__________________________ Kevin Hufnagle

Date: May 6, 2014 Approved: __________________________ Professor Emmanuel Agu, Project Co-Advisor

__________________________ Professor Jennifer deWinter, Project Co-Advisor This report represents the work of one of more WPI undergraduate students submitted to the faculty as evidence of a completion of a degree requirement. WPI routinely publishes these reports on its website without editorial or peer review. For more information about the projects program at WPI, see

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Abstract

Many people in North America enjoy capturing the visual, historical, and experiential contexts that landmarks offer as they travel. These individuals, however, use disjoint resources to plan trips, reducing the quality of the narrative experience they receive when visiting a place. To facilitate the narrativization of a place and create a shared experience of that place, I created an Android smartphone application, which allows users to explore basic facts, photographs, historical details, and travelers' experiences regarding New England's 117 coastal lighthouses. I developed three image-processing algorithms to serve as photograph filters and conducted two surveys and five usability studies to inform my iterative, audience-involved application design.

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Acknowledgments

First and foremost, I thank my two project advisors, Jennifer deWinter and Emmanuel Agu, for their continuous support and dedication towards this project.

Jay Hyland of the Lighthouse Preservation Society provided key background information about New England lighthouses in general and an avenue for distributing surveys to members of the society.

Ryan Avery from Cape Neddick ("Nubble") Lighthouse deserves a special mention for helping me collect pre-design survey responses.

I am also grateful for Ryan Avery, Bob Gallagher from Old Scituate Light, Francene Webster from Highland ("Cape Cod") Lighthouse, and Sarah Mumford and Keith Sisterson from Nauset Light for allowing me to use the grounds by their lighthouses to conduct my usability studies.

Jeremy D'Entremont kindly permitted me to include information from his book and website within my app.

Finally, I'd like to thank my family for their personal support throughout this project experience.

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Table of Contents

Acknowledgments.......................................................................................................................... iii List of Tables ................................................................................................................................. vi List of Figures ............................................................................................................................... vii 1. Introducing an Application that Offers Mobile Traveling Experience ................................... 1

1.1. Why Humans Enjoy Travel-Based Experiences .............................................................. 1 1.2. Android Smartphone Use Continues to Grow Quickly.................................................... 3 1.3. Computers Do Not (Yet) Satisfy Expectations Regarding Digital Image Processing ..... 6 1.4. Challenges Associated with Current Options Available .................................................. 8 1.5. Addressing These Challenges: Creating the Lighthouse Navigator Application............. 9 1.6. Overview of Report's Contents...................................................................................... 11 2. Presenting Current Applications, Theoretical Foundation for Work .................................... 12 2.1. Current Websites Each Offer Narrow Scope of Travel-Based Information .................. 12 2.2. Existing Smartphone Applications Combine to Form Narrative Space......................... 26 2.3. Key Research Involving Images and Image-Processing Algorithms............................. 37 2.4. Space and Place: Embedded Comfort Within the Unknown ......................................... 49 3. Designing a Compelling Lighthouse Portal Using Audience Feedback............................... 52 3.1. Android Design Guidelines Stress Simplicity, Usability ............................................... 52 3.2. Design Paradigms........................................................................................................... 56 3.3. Guiding Users through the Application's Different Screens ......................................... 59 3.4. Improving Design using Iterative, Audience-Based Process ......................................... 72 3.5. Designing Universally Effective Application Involves Consideration of Market ......... 79 3.6. Presenting the Modular Structure of the Android and Image-Processing Projects........ 81 4. Structure and Strategies for Implementing Application ....................................................... 85 4.1. Preparing Development Environment: Eclipse and ADT .............................................. 85 4.2. Presenting an Overview of Lighthouse Navigator Application ..................................... 86 4.3. Using Existing Data Structures and Packages to Enhance Application Efficiency ....... 93 4.4. Creating New Data Structures for Organizing Run-Time Application Data ................. 96 4.5. Using Flickr's API and Android Multithreading to Download Photographs .............. 108 4.6. Creating a Flexible Back End: XML File and Photograph Cache ............................... 113

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4.7. Constructing Image Processing Algorithms with ImageJ ............................................ 115 4.8. Preparing Image-Processing Algorithms for Testing................................................... 125 5. Reflecting on Algorithm Performance and Application Usability ..................................... 127 5.1. Findings from Image-Processing Algorithm Testing................................................... 127 5.2. Presenting User-Friendly Elements in Mobile Application Increases its Appeal ........ 137 6. Reflecting on the Project's Takeaways and Future Trajectories ........................................ 142 6.1. Application Attained Usability Goal, but Cross-Cultural Narratives Tough to Create 142 6.2. Image-Processing Algorithms Achieved High Accuracy, but Tough to Generalize ... 143 6.3. Completing App Functionality, Adding Filters, Investigating Simulacra in Future .... 144 7. References........................................................................................................................... 146 Appendix A: Instructions for Installing Project Files (README)......................................... A-1 Appendix B: Version History ................................................................................................. A-6 Appendix C: Interview with Jay Hyland ................................................................................ A-8 Appendix D: Survey for Visitors of Cape Neddick Lighthouse ........................................... A-12 Appendix E: Survey for Lighthouse Preservation Society Members................................... A-18 Appendix F: Usability Study Materials................................................................................ A-22

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