Accommodation Finder: An Augmented Reality Based Mobile Application Integrated with Smart Contracts

Abstract

Accommodation is one of the basic needs for travelers, tourists, students, and employees. Accommodations range from low-budget lodges to world-class luxury hotels, but finding the preferable accommodation is undoubtedly a tedious task. And due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it has become problematic state to visit each accommodation property to check whether it's suitable for the accommodation seeker, considering the location, environment, and to check if the property matches the user’s preferences. There have been incidents reported where thousands of people have been victimized because of contract breaches in the accommodation and real estate sectors, recurring from contract alterations. Considering these problems, we have proposed a system to provide solutions using Natural Language Processing (NLP), Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR), Augmented Reality (AR), Block-chain, and K-Nearest Neighbor (KNN). This system provides an efficient approach to viewing the exterior and interior of an accommodation using 360-degree views, providing recommendations to the user based on user preferences using KNN and cosine similarity, providing security in a digital agreement using blockchain technology, and a map navigation system using ASR. With the aid of the previously mentioned techniques, a mobile application prototype is created with the possibility of future testing and implementation.