Uni Students create phone App for elderly – might it be more use to tourists in Pattaya?
Another news article brought to you by Explore and Discover Thailand from the Thai Discovery blog
Original article – The Nation 7th March 2016
THAI UNIVERSITY students have successfully developed an Android social networking application for elderly persons, which also comes with a function that enables senior citizens to call their contacts in case of emergency and a “where am I?” function that provides directions in case they get lost.
The application’s website needs further development before it will be available on the Android Play Store for download.
The application, called “OLDSTER”, was developed by Patcharapol Nipa, Suchit Kulbanthomsil and Yutthasil Kosol – three students majoring in information technology at King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi in Bangkok.
The application has a simple interface and uses easy-to-read large fonts, Patcharapol said. “We made this application because we have heard elderly relatives at home complaining often about how complicated and overly detailed the current popular chat programmes are, and especially [they complain about] the too-tiny fonts,” he said.
Suchit said OLDSTER had nine main functions, including a profile of personal data that users fill in when registering that includes the telephone numbers of emergency contacts and close relatives; a web board where users can express opinions or share information; and a personal messaging system that allows people to chat and send stickers to one another.
Suchit said they also had designed chat stickers inspired by pictures and messages conveying good wishes that many Thai parents and elderly relatives send to their children. Other functions include an alarm, programme settings and a variety of information in various fields. Suchit said the current phase of application’s development involved website administrators selecting news feeds to integrate into the application.
There are two other functions that are very particularly helpful, Yutthasil added. The “help me” function triggered by a red button sends a distress message to the users’ emergency contacts as in case of accident and the “where am I?” function provides information about a person’s whereabouts via GPS and directions in case they get lost. The application will also include a “I’m lost” button to ask for help.
