Evaluating the user experience of a mobile user in a smart city context

Mobile and location-based technologies provide efficient ways of enhancing a city's smart transport infrastructure by effectively augmenting its functionality. Also, mobile phone users may act as mobile 'sensors' that provide transportation-related data, thus supplementing stationary sensor networks that provide data such as vehicle position, parking space availability, traffic density, atmospheric conditions, etc. and constituting a hybrid sensor ecosystem that incorporates both human and non-human agents. This paper outlines a research project that aims to enhance the user experience of an advanced transportation services platform by incorporating simple game elements and mechanics in system design, under the assumption that a non-game platform that enables gameful experiences will act as an intrinsic motivator for users by increasing the inherent appeal and the engaging character of various activities. The paper describes the system's evaluation methodology and process, outlines the analysis of preliminary results, and provides some insights regarding the impact of system parameters on the perceived satisfaction of mobile map-based applications, as well as the structure of the concept of user experience as it pertains specifically to such applications.