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Beyond Efficiency: How to Use Geolocation Applications to Improve Citizens Well-being

Authors:
Renata Souza
Izautino P. Oliveira
Frank Junior
Lanna Sales
Felipe Ferraz

Keywords: urban mobility; navigation applications; emotional design.

Abstract:
This paper presents a work in progress that exposes how the growing problem of urban mobility in large cities has contributed to the level of unhappiness of its inhabitants and tries to examine if the hypothesis of using geolocation applications to increase the well-being of the citizens might be a starting point for future works. A previous research concluded that people with the longest commutes are the least satisfied with life. Although some technological initiatives, such as Waze and Google Maps, tries to reduce the time wasted in traffic, the information here demonstrates that such efforts are not enough to reverse this everyday negative experience. Exploring theoretical concepts of emotional design and an experiment of Yahoo Labs, this paper argues that it is possible to work with the emotional responses of geolocation application users. Based on what was observed and collected, we argue that the use of these applications can create opportunities for positive emotions and encourage a change of attitude towards traffic problems, enabling more significant and delightful moments that potentially contribute to an increase in the feeling of well-being. We present the need of this new approach as it goes beyond current methods in its potential to make citizens smart when the city environment cannot be modified.

Pages: 37 to 40

Copyright: Copyright (c) IARIA, 2015

Publication date: June 21, 2015

Published in: conference

ISSN: 2308-3727

ISBN: 978-1-61208-414-5

Location: Brussels, Belgium

Dates: from June 21, 2015 to June 26, 2015