CASPER : hybrid context aware POI and event recommender

Abstract

With the emergence of ubiquitous computing, personalised context aware applications have become extremely popular over recent years especially in domains such as that of tourism. Nowadays, due to the vast number of available resources, choosing a particular point of interest (POI) or event is easier said than done. Consequently, various recommendation systems are being developed to recommend events and POis to both tourists and locals alike. Traditional recommendation systems are based on either collaborative or content based methodologies. In this research we take the best of both worlds and present a hybrid context aware POI and event recommendation system. Nowadays, mobile devices provide an ideal platform for processing and collecting the required data. The recommendation system being presented in this paper was implemented as an Android mobile application for the tourists and locals of Malta. The evaluation of this application was carried out through a usability study which ended with a questionnaire and an interview to establish the opinion of the evaluators regarding a number of usability heuristics and recommender system criteria.