Mobile-based Gamification of Community Exercise Initiatives using Location Services

Abstract

In recent years, lack of fitness has become a rising problem, leading to various non-infectious diseases, including heart disease. Although people recognize the health benefits of using fitness trackers, research shows they commonly stop using them due to a lack of motivation. With the latest technological advancements, gamification is being utilized to increase user engagement and motivation through challenges and rewards. In this paper, we propose a cross-platform mobile application that aims to gamify community exercise initiatives using location services. This application allows users to set their daily goals, including steps taken, distance travelled, and calories burned, automatically retrieved through Google Fit integration. The application provides users with challenges that differ from time intervals and distance challenges. The application features a real-time tracking system that tracks the distance during a challenge with an accuracy of 99.3%. For fitness gamification purposes, users are rewarded with points that are reflected on a community leaderboard when completing a challenge. Furthermore, the proposed system provides users with free courses to help them achieve their goals. The results show that the proposed application can be used as a motivational strategy for users to track their goals, compete against different communities, and help them achieve their goals using the various courses provided. Moreover, the proposed application is easy to interact with its simple, friendly yet powerful user interface that provides an effective and organized way to all types of people who wants to join a fitness community in order to maintain their health.

Keywords Legged locomotion, User interfaces, Real-time systems, Mobile applications, Sensors, Internet of Things, Diseases.