João Ferreira-Santos (CIDTFF) & Lúcia Pombo (CIDTFF) | ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information, 14(12), 469
Abstract: Urban heritage, when enhanced by digital technologies, can become a living laboratory. This study explores the Art Nouveau Path, a mobile augmented reality game implemented in Aveiro, Portugal, as part of the EduCITY Digital Teaching and Learning Ecosystem. Designed as a circular path of eight georeferenced points of interest, it integrates narrative cartography, multimodal media, and sustainability competences framed by GreenComp, the European Sustainability Framework. A DBR approach guided the study, combining four interconnected datasets: the game’s structured curriculum review by 3 subject specialists (T1-R), gameplay logs from 118 student groups (4248 responses), post-game reflections from 439 students (S2-POST), and in-field observations from 24 teachers (T2-OBS). Descriptive statistics and thematic coding were triangulated to examine attention to architectural details, the mediational role of AR, spatial trajectories, and reflections about sustainability. The results present overall accuracy (85.33%), with particularly strong performance on video items (93.64%), stable outcomes on AR tasks (85.52%), and lower accuracy in denser urban contexts. Qualitative data highlight AR as a catalyst for perceiving hidden features, collaboration, and connecting heritage with sustainability. The study concludes that location-based AR games can generate semantically enriched geoinformation. They also act as cartographic interfaces that embed narrative and competence-oriented learning into urban heritage contexts.
Keywords: geoinformation; location-based services; augmented reality; trajectory analysis; spatial storytelling; urban heritage; smart cities; sustainability competences.
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Referência: Ferreira-Santos, J., & Pombo, L. (2025). The Art Nouveau Path: Trajectory Analysis and Spatial Storytelling Through a Location-Based Augmented Reality Game in Urban Heritage. ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information, 14(12), 469. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijgi14120469
