Experiences with a social travel information system

Abstract

This paper documents a programme of research to explore the development of mobile social travel information systems, where dynamic travel information is produced by travellers themselves and distributed within communities united by similar travel patterns and everyday activities. The resulting system, called OurTravel, was the subject of a series of real-world trials involving three diverse physical communities: a rural village, a group of urban office workers and the attendees of a contemporary arts festival. We describe the design and implementation of the OurTravel system, our experiences of running these trials and the insights gained.