## 2 Development of a Prototype of Turist Visitor Office Room Using Spatial.io
### Research Design  
This section focuses on explaining the experimental design employed in validating the tourist visitor office room developed in this study (see Figure 3). The research was conducted at the Institute of Design and Manufacturing laboratory of the Technical University of Valencia (Spain) following these procedures. Tests were performed with groups of three users within the virtual space: a guide, a staff member (see Figure 3e), following a predetermined script that ensured consistent interaction across all groups, and two participants with no prior knowledge of the application served as test subjects (see Figure 3a,b or Figure 3c,d). Two different interfaces were used: PC-based interface, via a browser, and VR interface, via a Meta Quest 2 headset. Three distinct case studies were carried out, each differentiated by the interface used by the participants (the guide always used a PC-based interface):  
* Case Study 1 focused on the PC-based interface. Each participant was provided with a computer equipped with a mouse, keyboard, speakers, and a webcam, enabling them to navigate the virtual space through the web and interact with other participants (refer to Figure 3a,b). Initially, the participants received a brief description of the PC application from the assistants. During this initial contact, they were instructed to create their personalized avatars and enter the tutorial room, where the guide  
Figure 2: Several views of the tourist office of Valencia (Spain) at the Metaverse. (**a**) General overview of the tourist office for Valencia city. (**b**) A virtual visitor inspecting the 3D map of Valencia city. (**c**) Detailed view of the 3D recreation of Valencia city center. (**d**) Detailed view of the 3D map of Valencia city. awaited them. Notably, the streaming of the participant's camera was displayed above their avatars with their consent or a previously captured picture taken by the webcam was shown. This feature aimed to remind users that real people were behind the avatars. In the tutorial room, the guide explained the basic concepts of the environment and provided instructions on movement and interaction. After the tutorial, participants proceeded to the museum space for the guided tour. This case study aimed to assess the experience and gather opinions from users exclusively using the PC-based interface, without prior experience with other interfaces. A total of 10 participants participated in this test. * Case Study 2 focused on the VR interface. Each participant was provided with virtual reality equipment, allowing them to navigate the virtual space and interact with others (refer to Figure 3c,d). Participants received a brief introduction to the VR headset from the assistants and were instructed to create their personalized avatars and enter the tutorial room. Similar to Case Study 1, the guide explained the fundamental concepts of the environment and provided instructions on movement and interaction within the virtual space. The guided tour took place in the museum space. Notably, in this case study, streaming video from participants and the guide was not available, and only the avatars were visible. The objective was to evaluate the experience and gather opinions from users exclusively using the virtual reality interface, without prior experience with other interfaces. A total of 10 participants participated in this test. * Case Study 3 focused on the combined use of PC and VR interfaces. The objective of this case study was to gather the reflections of participants who experienced both the PC-based and VR interfaces and to compare their feedback with those who had only used one of the interfaces. A total of 10 participants took part in the test. To ensure unbiased results, each group used one interface as their initial experience. This resulted in 3 groups using the PC-based interface first (comprising a total of 6 participants), while 2 groups used the VR interface first (comprising a total of 4 participants).