KEI-Time Traveler: A Virtual Time Machine with Mobile Phones for Learning Local History

KEI-Time Traveler is a kind of "virtual time machine" that requires only commercially available mobile phones with no hardware attachment. In reality, KEI-Time Traveler presents graphical images of a past scene within a given area, viewed from the location measured using GPS and with arbitrary viewing angles. Users can explore a virtual past world using this system. A promising application of KEI-Time Traveler is edutainment. We applied it for learning activities with a group of 34 junior high school students. They virtually visited a world of 1938, when a severe landslide disaster occurred. They were able to compare conditions now and in the past directly at places with which they were familiar. The design approach and evaluation of our edutainment practice are described herein. Technically, the system uses 3D-model-based graphics that can be updated continually. From an educational perspective, students truly enjoyed the experience. It was not merely fun: our system raised their motivation to learn about disaster prevention. We confirmed the edutainment effect based on evidence: user responses and recordings of their experiences.

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