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Prior
to designing TraveLite, we wanted to explore the ways in
which people currently interact with travel guides and ways
they felt print travel guides were lacking. We wanted to
gather wide ranging ideas about the possibilities a customized,
electronic might offer. We chose to run a focus group because
(1) we wanted people's ideas to feed off each other, (2)
the information we wanted to gather was qualitative and
subjective in nature, and (3) we wanted to pose follow up
questions and explore issues in detail.
We
invited eight experienced travelers who use a guide when
traveling. Six were graduate students from the UC Berkeley
Computer Science Department and School of Information Management
and Systems, one was a professional travel writer and the
last an editor for a travel guide publishing company. In
addition, we asked people to bring travel guides and information
they had used for a trip. We hoped the presence of these
guides would spur ideas about how travel guides could be
made more useful.
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Participant
background
All of the participants travel on average at least once per
year to locales that are unfamiliar. All the participants
reported using the Internet and other technical tools prior
to and during travel to research, purchase and communicate.
This group roughly approximates the target customer of TravLlite
- web savvy, frequent travelers who are accustomed to researching
and purchasing travel related information and services from
the Web.
Results
On current use of travel guides and travel planning behaviors
Participants
reported that their planning needs differed according to
whether they were on the road or researching before their
trip. Before a trip, they would like to read up on a destination
and find out about its history and culture. They would do
some preparations regarding accommodations before departing,
but would also want the ability to research accommodations
in their guide while on the trip.
Most
explored the index and table contents of travel guides first
to get a high level overview of the information. The first
task in planning a trip is to get an overall sense of the
place in order to determine possible activities while in
the country. This includes reading up in the background
sections of the guide and perusing the photographs. While
in this high level stage, participants mark points of interest
with Post-it™ notes.
In
deciding which guide to purchase, they explore through an
entire guide quickly and purchase the guide with content
that is most specific their interests in the region.
Our
participants make decisions about where to travel based
on:
- recommendations
from friends
- dreaming
of area, destination
- time
of year
- getting
there - time, difficulty
- Spur
of the moment, bargain
- Top
10 lists/highlights
- Visiting
people
Once
on the road, our participants read in more detail than they
had prior to departure. The assumption is that detail is
better understood in the context of new information gathered
at the destination. For example, they would read about restaurants
while on the road, but would not care too much about them
prior to departure.
On
current use of PDAs and technology while traveling
Participants reported that they routinely take PDAs
when they travel. All use the device for the same tasks
as when they are not travelling (i.e. calendar, addresses).
All reported that they have looked for travel information
formatted for the PDA in formats such as AvantGo. One participant
has built
their own own web page of travel information before leaving
with bookmarks and annotations for use during the trip.
He accesses this page from internet cafes on the road. Nearly
all participants use internet cafes and email to communicate
with home during travel.
On
the idea of customized electronic in general
As we expected, participants liked the idea of a web interface
that allowed them to eliminate content they knew they would
not use (i.e. hotels in a price range they could not afford,
restaurants in cities they would not visit, etc.). Given
that users would like to be able to choose a group of restaurants
to include in their guides, we explored further to determine
what sort of metadata are important to them in choosing
restaurants.
The level of detail needed to build a guide depends on the
type of trip being planned. The range extends from purchasing
a pre-packaged guide to customizing a guide down to the
last detail.
Results
of Feature Voting
Restaurants
| Votes |
Dimension |
Notes |
| 2 |
Price |
|
| 2 |
Location |
how
far relative to GPS or entered point |
| 1 |
Cuisine |
|
| 1 |
Rating |
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Kosher/Vegetarian |
and
other special diets |
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Kid
Friendly |
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Smoking/non |
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Forms
of payment accepted |
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Parking |
and
special vehicle parking (bus, RV) |
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disabled
access |
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Lodging
| Votes |
Dimension |
Notes |
|
single
rooms available |
|
| 1 |
utilities,
amenities |
TV,
hot water |
| 1 |
good
rooms |
recommendations |
| 1 |
contact
information |
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Pricing
Models
| Vote |
Suggestion |
| 2 |
Free
in exchange for targeted ads on each screen (like Vindigo-might
work only for urban destinations) |
| 3 |
Allow
unlimited exploration, customization, pay for what take |
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Fully
functional promo to download with all information incorporated |
| 4 |
allow
for changes to guide due to unplanned diversions (fits
subscription model) |
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Shouldn't
cost more for customized guide |
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If
only purchase portion of entire guide, shouldn't have
to pay for entire guide |
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Pay
premium for customized guide - no info you don't need |
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If
someone owns a PDA, their time is at a premium, so they
are likely to pay for something that makes good use
of their time. Up to date info is a plus for them. |
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Price
point: about $20 for any guide that meets needs - whether
small or large, one country or many |
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If
three very separate places are included, can/should
this be one guide? |
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Give
away something to hook customers, then charge them for
all of something |
Miscellaneous
Features
| Votes |
Feature |
| 7
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updates
on the road (sync up/beaming) > is it possible to
dock remotely? |
| 3 |
recommendations
for activities (hikes, etc.) |
| 1 |
airline
information/ transportation information (prices, times,
routes) |
| 1 |
share
itinerary (updates shared) |
| 2 |
"where
am I?" feature - must have GPS |
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panic
button |
| 2 |
send
online postcards (also available through email) but
upload postcards from PDA |
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feedback
about how much room is left on the PDA for content |
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Synch
between guide on website and guide on Palm-no matter
where changes are made |
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Allow
users to come back to the site and edit the guide, download
again |
Miscellaneous
Information
| Votes |
Information
not currently provided |
| 3 |
departure
and arrival tax info (hidden surprise costs) |
| 5 |
local
events (arts, concerts, movies, festivals) |
| 2 |
links
to local resources (on web and PDA?) |
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subjective
information, share information (confirming or denying
information in guides) |
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date
stamp on information - prevent stale information that
is wrong |
| 5 |
Up
to date information |
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Advice
about the length of time required to travel from point
A to point B by various modes of travel - kept updated |
| 1 |
Context
sensitive translation information. I.e. looking at train
information - phrases needed to buy a train ticket,
tipping customs |
| 2 |
Information
for single female travelers |
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