Location-Based Game Platform for Behavioral Data Collection in Disaster Rescue Scenarios

Abstract

Location-based games are an emerging paradigm for training, simulation, entertainment, health and many other domains. In this paper, we consider the role of location-based games as a platform for data collection and analysis of human behavior. We also examine how human teams perform in a disaster scenario when such a scenario is mapped to a game environment conducted as a location-based augmented reality game. We use a pilot experiment to study human behavior between simulated disaster rescue teams and an integrated commander for the purpose of future research into improving exploitation of local tasks versus exploration of assigned objectives by disaster response teams. We show the results of our pilot experiment, analyze the effectiveness of this game as a data collection platform and then investigate how additional experiments may be conducted to formalize this problem further.