A MOBILE APPLICATION UTILIZING GEOLOCATION TECHNOLOGY TO ENHANCE TICKET SALES IN GHANA

Abstract According to a 2013 report by the international youth foundation, Ghana has seen some increased development in the fields of software, communication and technology. Aside this, the number of individuals having access to high end phones has also seen an increase. Even with all this technology people still find it difficult to access tickets for events that are organized in the country. The ticketing industry in Ghana is still patronizing the traditional system of issuing tickets which obviously has many flaws. This system involves printing out paper tickets which are later moved to vantage points across the country for people to access. The cost involved in this process is not the only problem. The existing problems are that, tickets vendors sometimes use the concept of protocol to sell tickets. That is, they tend to reserve tickets for potential customers who may or may not show up. This action leads to losses in most cases. Queuing and moving long distances for tickets also tends to discourage several people from buying tickets. This paper proposes an improved way to solve the problems faced by many who seek to acquire tickets for events. The ePublisher is mobile application that makes use of Global Positioning Services (GPS) and QR code development to make the process of accessing tickets easier and faster. The application was to be designed to change the experience people have when they are buying tickets for events. Thus, the eight golden rules of interface design coupled with rapid prototyping, the application interface was generated. The GPS feature of the application allows users to locate vendors of tickets around them. Markers displayed on the map symbolizes a vendor and this helps people move to the nearest vendor. In addition, users get to see the number of tickets available and this would guide their decision making. In effect, the implementation of the ePublisher would help reduce the unproductive movement of people to vendors without getting tickets to buy. Queuing and loss of revenue due to the use of protocol would also be checked. Finally, people interested in attending