Enhancing Whale Watching with Mobile Apps and Streaming Passive Acoustics

Whale watching is a prime example of ecotourism services reaching millions of people worldwide. In this paper, we describe a prototype of a mobile application designed to enhance the whale watching experience. Integrating eco-acoustics and entertainment components, the authors designed an App that enhances customer satisfaction even in the case of distant sighing, which helps preserve animal well-being in this growing ecotourism activity. This paper presents the design and preliminary evaluation of the system, which involves many different components, from usability and presence known scales. We asked 12 participants to conduct several activities, including (i) report a sighting, (ii) classify a cetacean vocal call, and (iii) gather a cetacean photo. Because of the system’s novelty, we report on an extensive evaluation framework, including usability and presence scales reported by 12 whale watchers. We discuss the implications of our findings on the design of future applications for ecotourism services.