An Internet of Things Conceptual Model and User Experience Design for Forest Hiking Systems in the Tropics Tourism

Tourism activities in the tropics region are significantly different from other parts of the world due to its distinctive features such as a mean annual temperature of 25 degrees Celsius, an abundance of sunshine, heavy precipitation which occasionally can induce monsoonal rainfall, high levels of humidity, dense vegetation of the rainforest, and diverse marine life. Although forest hiking has become one of the attractive interests in this wide area, the liveliness of enjoying a jungle walk might be discouraged by fear of getting lost, fear of unreachable locations by emergency vehicles, and fear of natural disasters which might lead to unpredictable subject anxiety. In this paper, we propose a conceptual model of the Internet of Things (IoT) system to support a forest hiking tourism experience. It consists of three functional sub-systems i.e., environmental monitoring sensors, tracking and tracing beacons, and early warning sensors. We propose to employ Long Range Wide Area Network (LoRaWAN) architecture and communication protocols to deal with long-distance data transmission. The proposed system can provide benefits for online operational monitoring and tracking visitors’ movements to quickly detect any disruption in the field such as missing persons. The system can also be used as an early warning system when a disaster like a landslide, tsunami, wildfire, volcano eruption, or flood takes place. Several other aspects related to the security, privacy, and interoperability of the proposed system will be addressed to achieve its optimum functionality. The proposed system including both hardware and software interface will be designed and developed using co-design methods. The iterative process and stakeholder engagements used in the co-design may lead to systems that are more acceptable and relevant to the needs of an individual in a unique environment like the tropics forest.