Design of an audio-based mobile journey planner application

Using public transportation is a context in which awareness of time is important. Providing information related to both time and place by means of ambient media can not only remove the need to keep looking at the time in order to depart on time but also create the feel of being in control, by knowing the time available and the progress of the journey. In the mobile context, hands and eyes are often occupied, which significantly limits the amount of information that can be provided by typical applications based on textual and graphical interfaces. In this paper, we introduce a mobile journey planner application that utilizes audio in providing useful information as well as the user experience prototyping and design process behind it.