We were scheduled for our review at 2.20 pm with Trevor Hogan, Phil Curtin and Emmett Coffey. Just prior to our appointment we had some issues with calibration with tbeta and also the placement of the camera. We were delayed as a result, but once we got it going there was no problems.

After the review we had a team meeting to discuss the problems we encountered. As a result we decided that we were going to upgrade from tbeta to Community Core Vision (CCV), which is a new improved and more stable version of tbeta. We also decided that that it would be better to semi-permanently fix all the hardware excluding the projector to the table to improve set-up time and also to help avoid any hardware issues.

As a result the hardware and software are far more stable and the syste ma sa whole works a lot better. It proved to be a very important exercise before we present the final piece on the 2nd June.

We were over all very happy with the testing and feel our product is ready for public exhibition.

For our Beta prototype we have been using tracing paper as a diffuser, it gave us surprising good results for such a cheap and readily available solution. Unfortunately it didn’t look great, especially when the table is off and it can also hang in the middle because it is thin.

We recently tested the 225 Lee filter which which was donated by Kevin O Mahony, a Masters student in CIT also working on a multi-touch project.
It has a very professional looking finish, diffuses the light perfectly.

Glass
When we began the project we bought acrylic as it works well for both the FTIR and DI set up. It was great for testing on the Beta prototype but we decided to upgrade to glass for the Delta prototype as it looks more professional, stronger (no dip in the centre) and also more resistant to scratches.

• Apple iPhone (2007) ‘Apple iPhone’ www.apple.com/iphone/features/multitouch.html (3/2/09)

• Arcstream AV (2008) ‘Arcstream AV’ http://www.arcstreamav.com (4/3/09)

• Buxton, Bill, Kaufmann, Morgan (2007) ‘Sketching User Experiences: Getting the Design Right and the Right Design’ Interactive Technologies.

• Buxton, Bill (2007) ‘Multi-Touch Systems that I Have Known and Loved’ ,http:// www.billbuxton.com/multitouchOverview.html (2/03/09)

• Cronin, Michael (2003) ‘Irish Tourism’ Channel View Publications

• Day, Catharina, (2006) ‘Ireland’ New Holland Publishers

• Dietz, Paul, Leigh Darren, (2001) ‘DiamondTouch: a multi-user touch technology’ ACM UIST

• Discover Ireland, (2009) ‘Discover Ireland’ http://discoverireland.ie (12/7/09)
• Echtler, Florian, Huber, Manuel, Klinker, Gudrun (2007)‘Shadow Tracking on Multi-Touch Tables’ Bluebook Publications

• Esenther, Alan, (2008) ‘Multi-Touch Gestures for Controlling Synchronized Map Views’ Mitsubishi Electric Research Labs, Cambridge, MA, USA

• Fáilte Ireland, (2006) ‘Tourism Business and Employment Survey 2006: Volume 1: Hotel Sector’ http://faliteireland.ie (13/1/09)

• Fáilte Ireland, (2006) ‘Tourism Facts 2007 Report’ http://faliteireland.ie (13/1/09)

• Fáilte Ireland (2006) ‘Tourism Product Development Strategy 2007-2013’ http:// faliteireland.ie (13/2/09)

• Fáilte Ireland, (2007)‘Strategy statement 2008 – 2010’ http://faliteireland.ie (15/1/09)
• Fáilte Ireland, (2006) ‘Tourism Services and Attractions Sector 2007’ http://faliteireland.ie (14/2/09)

• Fáilte Ireland, (2007) ‘Visitor Attitudes Survey 2007’ http://faliteireland.ie (13/2/09)
• GestureTek (2007) ‘GestureTek’ http://www.gesturetek.com/ (13/1/09)

• Good Food Ireland (2008) ‘Good Food Ireland’http://www.goodfoodireland.ie (10/4/09)

• Greenwood, Margaret, Connolly, Mark, Wallis, Geoff, (2003) ‘The Rough Guide to Ireland’ London, Thames & Hudson.

• Han, Jeff (2008) ‘Jeff Han’ http://cs.nyu.edu/~jhan/ (13/4/09)

• Han, J. Y.(2005) ‘Low-Cost Multi-Touch Sensing through Frustrated Total Internal Reflection’ ACM

• Holloway, J. Christopher, (2004) ‘Marketing for Tourism’ Pearson Education

• Horizon (2007) ‘Horizon’ http://natural-ui.com/solutions/products.html (2/2/09)
• Ideum (2007) ‘Ideum’ http://www.ideum.com/ (3/2/09)

• Interaction Design Association (2008) ‘Interaction Design Association’ http://www.ixda.org/ (12/3/09)

• Irish Hotel Federation,(2007) ‘Blueprint for the Future. A strategic review and
recommendations for the Irish Hotel & Guesthouse industry. Volume One: Main Report’ http://www.ihf.ie (14/2/09)

• Ireland Inspires (2008) ‘Ireland Inspires:’ http://www.irelandinspires.com (12/3/09)
• Irish Tourist (2009) ‘Irish Tourist’ http://www.irishtourist.com (12/3/09)

• Izadi, Shahram, Hodges, Steve, Butler, Alex Rrustemi, Alban, Buxton, Bill (2006) ‘ThinSight: Integrated Optical Multi-touch Sensing through Thin Form-factor Displays’ Microsoft Research Cambridge

• Lumin (2007) ‘Lumin’ http://www.lumin.de/ (4/2/09)

• MERL Diamond (2007) ‘MERL Diamond’ http://www.merl.com/projects/DiamondTouch/ (27/3/09)

• Microsoft Surface (2007) ‘Microsoft Surface’ http://www.microsoft.com/SURFACE/ Default.aspx (23/2/09)

• Mindstorm (2007) ‘Mindstorm’ http://mindstorm.com/ (23/2/09)

• MIT OpenCourseWare (2008) ‘MIT OpenCourseWare’ http://ocw.mit.edu (13/04/09)

• Moggridge, Bill, (2007) ‘Designing Interactions’ The MIT Press

• Moscovich Brown, Tomer, )2007)‘Indirect Mappings of Multi-touch Input Using One and Two Hands’ University University of Toronto

• Multi-touch Barcelona (2007) ‘Multi-touch Barcelona’ http://blog.multitouch-barcelona.com (12/1/09)

• Multi-touch Blogs, (2008) ‘MultitouchBlogs’http://www.multitouchblogs.com (3/1/09)

• Multigesture (2008) ‘Multigesture’ http://www.multigesture.net/ (17/3/09)

• Multi-touch South Africa (2007) ‘Multi-touch South Africa’ http://www.multitouchsa.co.za/ (14/1/09)

• My Guide Ireland, (2008) ‘My Guide Ireland’ http://www.myguideireland.com (13/2/09)

• Natural Interaction(2008) ‘Natural Interaction’ http://naturalinteraction.org (12/03/09)

• Natural User Interface (2008) ‘Natural User Interface’ http://www.natural-ui.com (14/2/09)

• Niceminds (2008) ‘Niceminds’ http://niceminds.com (13/2/09)

• Nielsen, Jakob (2007) ‘Jakob Nielsen’ http://www.useit.com/ (12/03/09)

• NUI Group Forum (2007) ‘NUI Group Forum’ http://nuigroup.com (12/2/09)

• NUI wiki (2007) ‘NUI wiki’ http://wiki.nuigroup.com/Main_Page (13/2/09)

•OrionMultitouch(2007)‘OrionMultitouch’http://orionmultitouch.blogspot.com (14/1/09)

• Osyris Interactive (2007) ‘Osyris Interactive’ http://mtaha.wordpress.com (13/2/09)

• O Wiley, Wilbert (2007) ‘Interface Design: An Introduction to GUI Design Principles and Techniques’ Galitz.

•PeauProductions(2008)‘PeauProductions’http://peauproductions.blogspot.com (12/2/09)

• Popovich, Alex (2008) ’Alex Popovich’ http://alexpopovich.wordpress.com (13/2/09)

• Reactable (2007) ‘Reactable’ http://mtg.upf.edu/reactable/ (12/1/09)

• Realisations (2008) ‘Realisations’ http://www.realisations.net/eyecandy.shtml# (12/2/09)

• Roth, Tim (2007) ‘Iad projects’ http://iad.projects.zhdk.ch/multitouch (12/1/09)

• Sandler, Seth (2007) ‘Seth Sandler’ http://sethsandler.com (2/4/09)

• Sluderschmidt, Johanne (2008)‘Vispol The Virttable’http://johannesluderschmidt.de (2/3/09)

• Sport and Tourism:n(2008) ‘Sport and Tourism’ http://www.arts-sport-tourism.gov.ie (13/2/09)

• Steves, Rick, O’Connor, Pat, (2007)‘Rick Steves’ Ireland 2008’ Avalon Travel

• TBeta/CCV (2008) ‘TBeta/CCV’ http://ccv.nuigroup.com (12/1/09)

• TED, (2009) ‘Ted’ www.ted.com/talks/ (12/3/09)

• Tidwell, Jenifer, (2005) ‘Designing Interfaces: Patterns for The Essential Guide to User Effective Interaction Design O’Reilly Media Inc.

• Touchlib (2007) ‘Touchlib’ http://nuigroup.com/touchlib/ (16/2/09)

• Tourism Ireland Brand:(2007) ‘Tourism Ireland Brand’http://www.tourismirelandbrand.com (10/4/09)

• Tourism Ireland Imagery: ‘Tourism IrelandImagery’http://www.tourismirelandimagery.com (12/3/09)

• Tourism Ireland Info: (2009) ‘ Tourism Ireland Info’ http://www.tourismirelandinfo.com (28/3/09)

• Tourism Ireland.(2006) ‘Marketing Insights’ http://www.tourismireland.com (17/2/09)

• van der Veen, Harry (2007) ‘FTIR multi-touch display how-to guide’ Multi-touch Interaction, Tomer Moscovich

• Van Der Veen, Harry (2008) ‘Harry Van Der Veen’ http://www.multitouch.nl (19/3/09)

• Visit Dublin (2008) ‘Visit Dublin’ http://www.visitdublin.com (12/3/09)

• Weinschenk, Susan (1997) ‘GUI Design Essentials’ Jamar Publications

• Yanko Design (2007) ‘ Yanko Design’ http://www.yankodesign.com/ (12/03/09)

During the course of this project we built three multi-touch devices in total. I was responsible for researching, sourcing and purchasing all the materials, tools and electronic equipment necessary to construct each individual device.

Alpha Prototype (MT Mini)
Our first prototype multi-touch device was built using very simple and basic components. We organised and purchased all the necessary materials which included a cardboard box, a picture frame with glass and a Targus webcam, which we bought in Soundstore in Togher, Cork.

Beta Prototype
We started this project with no tools, materials or electronic equipment, everything had to be bought excluding our laptops. The first major step when designing the Alpha Prototype was choosing a suitable projector.

Projector
The projector had a great influence on the overall dimensions of the prototype as we had to consider the ‘throw’ of the projection and the resulting ‘projected’ screen size. For usability purposes we did not want a viewing screen thats too small or a table thats too high. After researching many options we chose the BenQ MP771 projector as it was within our price
range and met all the necessary specifications. The projector was not available in Ireland so we had to order it from Poland. Unfortunately, when it arrived from Poland it was not functioning properly so we had to return it and order another from the UK.

Fortunately our second projector worked perfectly and we got the projection necessary to start constructing the table.

Tools and Materials
We had no tools beginning this project so we had to buy everything we needed. To keep things simple we made a list and bought everything in Woodies, the items we needed included;
• Cordless drill
• Saw
• Hammer
• Spirit level
• screws and nails
• screwdriver set
• protractor & ruler
• Measuring tape
• Sandpaper
• Stanley knife
• Black paint and white undercoat paint.
• Paint tray, rollers and brushes
• No more nails (unibond wood glue)
• Chipboard and plywood for the base and walls
• Pine timber for the frames.

Webcam
We purchased three different webcams during the course of this project. The first was a Targus webcam that we damaged trying to remove the IR filter. The second webcam we bought was a Microsoft VX1000. This camera worked OK but was not perfect for this project as the field of view was too narrow and the frame rate was too slow for blob detection. More research led me to the
Sony PS3 eye which met all the specifications we desired, we just had to remove the IR filter and replace it with a bandwidth filter.

Diffuser
We looked at purchasing many different diffuser materials for the screen surface including Rosco grey and Lee filters. For testing purposes we bought a roll of tracing paper which worked out perfectly for the second Prototype. For the final prototype we used a 225 Lee Filter which we got from Kevin O Mahony, a masters student in CIT, the Lee filter gave us better blob recognition and also a more professional and ‘screen like’ appearance.

Touch Surface
In the early stages of the project we still has yet to decide between the DI and FTIR multi-touch systems. When looking at purchasing a touch surface for the multi-touch table we bought acrylic as it worked well with both systems We eventually chose the DI set up. We bought the Acrylic from Blarney Plastic Specialists in Ballincollig for the first prototype. We opted to use glass instead of acrylic for the final prototype.

IR illuminators
There was many variables to consider when buying IR illuminators including the power of the light, the number of diodes and the wavelength. The type of IR illuminators we needed for this project were not available in Ireland so we had to search online, eventually we bought two 148 boards from Hong Kong on E-bay.

Unfortunately our LED lights arrived with no power supply so we picked up a switched Mode AC to DC adaptor in Maplin Electronics. We also bought a pack of 5 amp terminal blocks to connect the LED lights to the power supply. It was a fairly straight forward procedure connecting and powering up the two boards which we ran at 12 volts.

Reflective surface
To create even light from the IR illuminators on the projection screen we had to consider bouncing light from the inside walls of the table as opposed to pointing them directly at the table, for testing purposes we bought aluminum foil which worked perfectly for us.

Fans
As the projector is essentially incased in a box it can get very warm inside so it is necessary to keep it cool to function correctly. We bought two 12 volt Bi sonic fans in Maplin Electronics for this purpose. We chose this particular model because we could hook it up to the same power supply as the IR illuminators. These fans were extremely loud at 60 decibels so we had to return them and purchase the quietest fans we could get, which were the Asaka Ultra Quiet 120 mm.

Laptop connector
We had to buy an Apple Mini-DVI to DVI Adapter to connect our laptops to the projector. We bought it in AT Mac, Penrose Quay Cork.

Picture frame & cardboard box
We needed a picture frame and a cardboard box to create our first prototype MT mini. We picked up a picture frame in Dunnes Stores and a card board box in Centra in Riverstick.

Bandpass filter
To convert the Sony PS3 eye webcam into a multi-touch camera we needed to remove the IR filter and replace it with a bandpass filter. For testing purpose we created our own bandpass filter from exposed 35 mm negative film and fortunately it worked perfectly.

Speakers
When purchasing speakers we had to consider the shape, watts and the option of a built in amplifier. We used Creative I-Trigue 2300 2.0 stereo speakers form Argos for audio feedback and video sound, which work perfectly.

Media Content
I created the majority of the media content over the course of the project. I visited all the major sites around Cork city including Fota Wildlife Park, Blarney Castle, Charles Fort, Kinsale, Cork City Gaol, Garretstown, St. Finnbarre’s Cathedral, The English Market, Bishop Lucy Park, Fitzgerald’s Park, Cork city centre and Kinsale.

My primary focus was on photography, but I also created many short movies, Quicktime VR’s and stop motions.

Due to time restraints I downloaded images from the internet for locations we could not visit and activities we could not take part in such as deep sea fishing and kayaking. We may also include videos from the Discover Ireland website.

Text Content
The majority of the text content relating to tourist services and attractions was readily available online. I downloaded text from the internet, edited, re-wrote it and customised it for the purposes of our project.

Hotel Content
We decided to showcase the Clarion hotel in Cork city because it is a beautifully constructed modern building with extensive facilities and services. The Clarion is also part of a hotel group so they would be prime target audience for marketing our product. I contacted the Sales and Marketing manager, Raymond Kelleher, to arrange a meeting to introduce project. I presented Raymond with a portfolio of my previous work and offered the files
to full photographic coverage of the hotel including 360º panoramas in exchange for their cooperation.

We covered the lobby, bar, restaurant, spa, swimming pool, meeting rooms, executive bedroom and also the penthouse. Raymond provided us with all the text information, marketing and promotional material, menus and logos. He also offered us to use the hotel as a location to showcase the multi-touch table when the project is complete.

When we complete the software programming with full functionality if time permits, we may consider implementing a number of demo applications such as games, music interfaces and Google Earth to show the full functionality and capabilities of our multi-touch product. We have already gathered a substantial library of applications from the NUI Group forum and other
sources.

The abundance of available information can cause many issues itself. A lot of the details presented are promotional and advertisement based in nature (sponsored links etc), and may not be appropriate to your particular search, and consequently it can be extremely difficult to pinpoint exactly what you are looking for. The tourism in Touch device provides only targeted information
so there is no time wasted accessing the exact information.

We evaluated how our device can provide better solutions for tourists with interactive multi-touch technology. It is extremely troublesome to find all the information tourists are usually looking for on one, easily accessible site. Trains and bus information are generally located on completely different sites to entertainment information. The tourism in touch product provides all the
necessary information in one easy accessible interface.

Although there have been gargantuan steps in information and communication technology, not everyone has access to the Internet and some people may not have the computer skills to access the necessary tourist information via the World Wide Web. The Tourism in Touch product breaks down the barriers for computer illiterate people, only natural easy to use hand gestures are used
in place of mediating devices such as the keyboard and mouse which makes it accessible to all.

Guidebooks can be out of date and biased with information, also guidebooks for Ireland generally cover the country as a whole, although dedicated books are available for Dublin, cities like Cork, Kilkenny, Limerick and Galway do not get exclusive treatment. So tourists get a book that covers the country but with little local information. The Tourism in Touch device provides all the local information in one easy approachable package.

Throughout the course of the project we designed and constructed three prototypes and conducted seven stages of user testing. This provided us with great knowledge and experience to conceptualise the look of the Tourism in Touch device, the structure of the hardware system and the software applications.

We prepared mock-ups illustrating the design and engaged in paper prototype testing to create a consistent GUI, graphic identity and branding for the product. The result is an easily navigableinterface that is aesthetically pleasing and branding and design elements that compliment the
concept and mission of the device.

We worked with the staff in the Clarion hotel and visited all the major tourist attractions in and around Cork city to create an expansive library of visual content that include photographic material, 360° panoramas, videos and maps. We also sourced any other necessary materials form online websites such as Discover Ireland for content that we could not create due to time
restrictions on the project.

We developed the system and a complimentary application suite through a number of closely documented stages that present this rich multimedia information in an immersive and interactive manner that the user can easily navigate, interact with as an enjoyable experience.

We built a tangible multi-touch tabletop device and implemented the applications suite into the working piece of hardware which work as we had originally visualised at the outset of the project.
In summary, we feel we have met all our objectives and have created a product that is both presentable for the exhibition and also for showcasing in a hotel or tourist information centre for further testing before completing the device for commercial use.

So when we were purchasing speakers we had to take the size of the speakers in relation to the grill size in to account so the sound would be leaving the table rather than reverberating inside.

We had a couple of pairs of speakers at home; a Trust pair that were just not powerful enough and sounded very ‘tinny’ and the Logitech set had a subwoofer which we had problems fitting inside the table and we were also conscious that it may cause the camera to vibrate.

After visiting Argos, Harvey Normans and Currys we found the perfect speakers in PC world. The Logitech X-140 2.0 are the perfect size and loud enough for our needs.