Walk-walk: a Location-based Mobile AD/Voucher System for Night Market Strolling

Abstract

In Taiwan, many night markets are cultural highlights and often local attractions. In such environments, mobile users wade through tightly clustered vendors that are similar nature and which they most likely know nothing about. To make the best purchase, it is desirable to adapt mobile marketing systems into night market business mode. Existing mobile marketing mechanisms however are mostly passive and intrusive. To make the night market scenario be effective and feasible, users’ context, location, and preference should be put into consideration. This work designs and implements Walk-walk, a mobile advertisement (ads)/ voucher system for night market strolling. Under this proposed architecture, street vendors could post their ads/vouchers using mobile phones with digital camera. A consumer would receive ads/vouchers befitting her/his location and preference when strolling in the predefined night market area, which enhances the consumer’s purchasing experience. A course-based project was conducted for real-life vendor data collection in Feng Chia Night Market, Taichung, where the implemented Walk-walk mobile ad client/server prototype is tested.