=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=Vol-2280/paper-21
|storemode=property
|title=The Use of a Smart Application to Track Activities for Achieving an Active and Healthy
Life
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2280/paper-21.pdf
|volume=Vol-2280
|authors=Suela Maxhelaku,Astrit Veliu,Alda Kika,Silvana Greca
|dblpUrl=https://dblp.org/rec/conf/rtacsit/MaxhelakuVKG18
}}
==The Use of a Smart Application to Track Activities for Achieving an Active and Healthy
Life==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2280/paper-21.pdf
The use of a smart application to track activities for achieving an active
and healthy life
Suela Maxhelaku Astrit Veliu Alda Kika Silvana Greca
Computer Science Dept. Computer Science Dept. Computer Science Dept. Computer Science Dept.
suela.maxhelaku@fshn.edu.al astrit.veliu@fshnstudent.info alda.kika@fshn.edu.al silvana.greca@fshn.edu.al
Abstract
Inactivity is a phenomenon that is these devices [Rad16]. Given the high prevalence of
recently characterizing the world and physical inactivity, it is necessary to develop new cost-
it is one of the main causes of chronic effective, scalable approaches to increase physical
diseases. Health and lifestyle problems activity. One promising direction is the use of
are increasingly seeking solutions that smartphones in the delivery and personalization of
have technology as the main solution. programs that motivate individuals to increase their
In this paper we will analyze various physical activity [Zho18].
algorithms and technologies that can In the current age of technology, smartphones due to
be used to accomplish it and how to their ubiquitous nature are commonly used as a
combine them to achieve a more medium for promoting physical activities. But people
active and healthy lifestyle. This paper still rely less on gadgets, mobiles phones, and other
proposes an Android mobile phone specialized devices to track a health indicator. This is
application that gives information how in contrast to the fact that recently there has been an
active are people during the day, how increase in the healthcare-related research and
can we improve their life and unprecedented growth in the systems, devices, and
implement a program with activity applications for healthcare management, be it on a
tracker. In the focus of the work are personal or a larger scale. So what is the reason that
different age groups of people, where despite the availability of plethora of mobile phone
this technology will be implementated. applications and devices, half of the people still track
Also, will be simulated an application their health status in their head? This is due to the fact
which will enable statistics on the that people mostly lack the motivation for performing
activities that the user has performed the physical activities. Users use these applications and
and various activities that he can ultimately lose their interest after using it for a few
accomplish through it. times only. Thus, creating the eagerness of living a
healthy life by engaging users is a goal that is more
Keywords: challenging and demands more effort [Sar15].
This app will track activities that will be very useful
E-Health, Interactive Application, Physical information on daily activities for the user, the amount
Activities, Activity Tracker of liquid consumed and what is appropriate according
to body mass and gender. The application will also
1 Introduction include the possibility of digitizing the health card,
Today, the mobile phone industry is one of the where every person can have his personal data always
fastest and most dynamic business sector. The need to with him without the need to keep the card. The app
communicate efficiently and instantaneously is always will include a menu of foods and other useful services
a necessity. The market sector and the ever-growing such as personal agenda where the user can add notes
and demanding consumers always want to have more or memos use light in the dark, access and play music.
and they want it better than ever. Having a mobile The application language will be simpler and will be
phone for us makes life easier [Jem15]. available to all people for download on smart Android
The number of smartphones are growing steadily in phones in the Play Store app. The objective of the app
is to promote physical activities and enable users to
recent years, especially because they have become
achieve their activeness goal.
more accessible and more useful in everyday life. It is
almost impossible to imagine life without the help of
2 Literature overview level of hydration or Fitbit application that track
First, there was no requirement for additional activity and help improve the lifestyle but they need
equipment such as pedometers or foot pods and no Internet access to get the data.
need for data entry. This makes the app more attractive Also, the Android platform offers several sensors that
to those who are ambivalent about the benefits of allow the device to monitor the movement. Possible
measurement or about their ability to become fitter and sensor architectures vary by sensor type: width, linear
healthier [Con06]. Secondly, while most other apps acceleration, rotation vector, movement, step impact,
only activate when users provide notice that they are and step detector sensors.
about to begin an exercise event, this app measured 3 Modeling the solution
activity continually and without the need for any user 3.1 Functional Requirements
action. This feature of the app was intended to reduce
the initial investment of time and effort, increase The functional requirements of the systems will be:
participation and reduce the dropout rate. In addition, it The users must create a personal profile through a
ensured that the app measured the physical activity registration form, must perform activity and can save
inherent in routine, everyday activities, as well as more calories burned in the steps taken, must record the
purposeful exercise [Harr16]. Another research amount of liquids he consumes and have a graphical
suggests an easy way to implement and battery friendly view of the progress, must record consuming foods and
method to Step Counting problem, which is based on have a graphical view of progress, can create notes or
Android smartphone accelerometer, Fast Fourier memos, plays the music he has on the device within the
Transform (FFT) and thresholding. The method, after application, can activate the flashlight of the device (if
applied preprocessing and FFT to the data gathered any) from the application, adds data to the database and
from smartphone's accelerometer (16hz), detects and has full control over them, has weekly statistics for
counts steps by comparing the data to predefined each activity, has the possibilities to share the statistics.
thresholds. The predefined thresholds were specified Also, the system will not allow the user to open the
by analyzing the accelerometer data obtained while gifts when there are insufficient scores and when the
users were sitting, standing, and walking. User daily goal is reached the user is notified via a message
experiments were conducted to test the method. Results from the system.
showed 87.52% success for walking. Additionally, for
sitting and standing the method had a success over 3.2 Data modeling and application architecture
99%, as expected. And for running, only 41.7% of the Since we will not use the client-server architecture for
steps were correctly counted [Dir17]. remote data storage, we will use SQLite for storing
Another method is gyroscope. Gyroscope is used to them in the application memory. To further enhance
measure the angular velocity and accelerometer is used data security and manage them we will use content
to measure the acceleration. Both sensors are suitable providers. Mobile app design architecture usually
for motion analysis and step counting but consists of multiple layers within an app, which
accelerometer is more popular since its ability detect includes the following layers:
motion and the rate of change in motion speed [Lin15]. 1. Presentation Layer - This layer consists of
components like UI components and UI process.
Almost all existing pedometer techniques use The focus is how the application will be presented to
accelerometer data to identify steps, which is not very the end user.
accurate at low walking speeds. Another research also
describes a gyroscope-based pedometer algorithm 2. Business Layer - This layer is formed by business
implemented in a smartphone. The smartphone is entities, workflows, and business components.
placed in the pocket of the trouser, which is a usual 3. Data Layer - This layer meets the application
carrying position of the mobile phone. The gyroscope requirements and facilitates secure data transactions.
sensor data is used for the identification of steps. The All the data are within this layer. The system
algorithm was designed to demand minimal receives as numerical input data from the
computational resources so that it can be easily
accelerometer sensor, which are executed in the
implemented in an embedded platform [Jay13].
background and provide commands to perform the
Also, there are a lot of applications like Water Drink
activity calculation that the user is performing. This
Reminder by Leap Fitness Group that analyses the
layer processes the data and then displays a scheme of all activities is presented in the figure below
notification if the conditions are meet. Also, the to create a better idea of the user interface.
result obtained by the Barcode with other data taken
from the camera are processed to generate the health
card and the user profile picture.
3 Application Development
3.1 Technologies used
The software model chosen for the application is the
incremental model. This choice was made because the
application will be put into operation as soon as
possible, in order to be presented to the users and to
receive an evaluation from them [Bas12]. Through our
assessment, we will be able to add or change
application functionalities, bringing them closer to their
needs. Also, the cost of the incremental process is
lower compared to other alternatives. Development of
application uses the Android Studio program and Java
programming language. The interfaces are encoded
through the XML language, also a part of them are
programmed in Java. The other technologies on which
the app is based are:
• Content Providers - manage activity data and Figure 1: Activity and flow chart
database.
• Shared Preferences - Preserve user's personal The above chart shows the link between activities and
information. how we can move in the app. The main interface is
• EventBus - a service that enables communication MainMenuActivity, from which we can open three
between activities. components. FragmentActivity displays daily data and
• BroadcastReceivers - stand all the time on standby can start a new activity. FragmentWater & Food lists
to display messages to users at certain time intervals. all drinks and foods and it is sufficient to choose one to
• Accelerometer Sensor - generates data for register on a database, and the daily hydration progress
measuring user activity. is also visually presented. FragmentToolkit keeps the
• Barcode Scanner - scanner for health card.
tools and services that offer application. The user can
• Adobe Photoshop CS6 - Adobe's software program
use device light, play music, and manage notes or
through which are processed icons and other
application graphics. personal memos. From the side menu, we can navigate
• Android Services - serve to perform activities in to the profile where a summary of activities and
the background. personal data are presented. The user has the ability to
update personal data in the EditProfile activity.
• AsyncTasks - Increases application performance
EditHealthCard activity provides a form where a health
by performing background calculation.
card is scanned and other personal card data that are
3.2 Interface reflected in HealthCard activity are scanned. Then we
The user interface is a key element when creating an have GiftsActivity where we list the gifts with the
application. Its wrong design can lead to project relevant details where the user has the possibility to
failure. It is the only contact point the user has with the click on them to open them and go to ViewActivity to
app and through it accomplish a certain task. The browse the information. SettingsActivity offers a
Android interface is provided by Layout components, functionality that few applications offer. There the user
which are programmable in XML and can be located in has the ability to determine the sensitivity of the step
the widgets. The application development is based on measurement sensor and change the size of the step.
the Model View Controller (MVC) model where an
For statistics generation we go to StatisticsActivity and
interface is an xml file separated from the logical
through the graphs we have a reflection of the weekly
model that implements business logic [Sok14]. A
performance and we can share the activity with others.
Finally, InstructionsActivity and AboutUSActivity
have information on how to use the application and
how to contact the developer.
3.3 Activity Measurer
The application does not need to be connected to the
Internet. Any of its activity is performed offline, and
data exists as long as the application stays installed on
the device. In interface design, the elements are
position in such a way to provide more information at
the same time such as the current date and the number
of steps performed. At the center of the page we have
the actual progress of the activity presented with a
circular progress indicator which has the amount of
kcal burned. It is the presentation of the main activity
such as data, time interval, burnt kcal and speed of
movement. At the bottom of the layout there are two
buttons whose role is the management of the activity.
By clicking the start button, the application initializes
the step meter service that relies on the accelerometer
sensor and saves the number of steps.
Figure 3: Water and food information
The figure above shows a visual representation of the
current hydration level and the image that appears is
according to the gender of the user. The information
that is displayed in this layout is the daily intent and
how it is currently implemented. In the center of the
layout, there is a circular button with the + icon.
Clicking it will show the drinks menu and we can
choose what we are consuming. At the bottom of the
page that are the foods which are automatically added
to the database.
3.5 Tools - Toolkit
Providing extra tools within the application is an added
value to the user because he does not need to download
other applications but use a single one.
Figure 2: Activity Measurer
3.3 Hydration and food recorder
Water & Food is a design where the user can choose
and record foods and drinks consumed during the day.
Figure 3 shows the layout interface.
Figure 5: Health Card
Figure 4: Tools
3.7 Score system and gifts
In the above interface, we have a list of all notes and Some of the application's activities offer you the
memos. It is built in such a way that the user feels chance to win points. By doing this, the motivation and
familiar with the icons and manages all the tools within interest of the user to use the application increases. At
the same interface. Here we can add a new memo or the same time, it helps to achieve the goal of making a
note. Each of them can be modified and deleted. At the healthier lifestyle.
same time, the activity is added to the database and
The activities that are part of the score system are:
checked whether it is a memo or not.
1. Doing activities
3.6 Health Card
The application offers the possibility of digitizing the 2. Liquid consumption
health card, so every person can have his personal data 3. Food consumption
without the need to keep the physical card. The design If the user manages to meet the daily goal, he earns 100
of Health Card is very simple and practical. It includes points. With the points he can unlock the gifts
a digitized health card presentation with the user's contained in the application and to make their own.
picture, the barcode that is associated with the physical Points are estimated based on their health significance.
card and other general data like blood group, patient
code and emergency contacts. Barcode is identical to
the one found on the card and everyone can scan it
through any barcode reader device and return the same
code. If the user has specified emergency contacts
when registering the card, when one of them clicks, the
Android application automatically opens with the
duplicate call number. By contrast, the buttons are
inactive and cannot be clicked. The profile picture is
stored in Shared Preferences, so it does not match the
other system data.
the application, and supporting a wide range of
smartphones.
We conclude that conducting activities, driven by
mobile apps, is a very effective way to improve
lifestyle, all at no additional cost. Implementing
motivational techniques, including awards, gifts, and
motivational announcements, enhances user confidence
and encourages them to use more the application and to
meet daily activity goals. This application meets all the
conditions to be a true track record of activities for
achieving a healthier lifestyle in our country. In the
future, we expect the development of this application
for the iOS platform, performance optimization and the
addition of other services needed for the user.
In the future, we will work in developing web services
to integrate digital card, user personal informations and
other services in our system that has in focus managing
data and images in E-Health.
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