UniBg 44111 2013-2014 .:. IT for Tourism ManagersLecture #7. Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Roberto Peretta

Our places are geographic. Georeference, GPS,Google Maps, Open Street Maps, Foursquare, LBS

Università degli Studi di BergamoArea didattica di Lingue e Letterature straniereProgettazione e gestione dei sistemi turistici /Planning and Management of Tourism SystemsCentro Studi per il Turismo e l'Interpretazione del Territorio (CeSTIT)

What are we talking about?

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Databases and social networks: the Web 2.0

1. Georeference 2. GPS3. Google Maps vs. Open Street Maps4. Foursquare5. LBS

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According to Wokipedia, “to georeference something means to define its existence in physical space.”

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Georeference Mobility, GPS, and maps

According to Wokipedia, “a geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system that enables every location on the Earth to be specified by a set of numbers or letters.”

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Longitude and latitudeMobility, GPS, and maps

Any place can be defined by its longitude and latitude.

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A longitude and a latitudeMobility, GPS, and maps

Positions detected through satellites (again just coordinates: longitude and latitude) are “read” by data systems wherethousands of coordinates of Points of Interest (POIs) have been previously stored – like for Google Maps or Nokia phones.

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POIsMobility, GPS, and maps

The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a space-based global navigation satellite system (GNSS) that provides location and time information in all weather, anywhere on or near the Earth, where there is an unobstructed line of sight to four or more GPS satellites.It is maintained by the United States government and is freely accessible by anyone with a GPS receiver.Current GPS-based devices include in car navigation system (like Tom Tom) and – increasingly – smartphones like the iPhone or Android-based mobile phones.

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The Global Positioning System Mobility, GPS, and maps

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or GPS Mobility, GPS, and maps

Coordinates can be read through Google Maps(though there are many coordinate systems, so that coordinates for a location differ in different systems…)

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Coordinates on Google MapsMobility, GPS, and maps

Google Maps, currently the most diffused proprietary map system, and – and somehow opposed to – Open Street Map, an open source map system.

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Google Maps, Open Street MapMobility, GPS, and maps

Foursquare, a social network for mobile users.

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FoursquareMobility, GPS, and maps

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Foursquare sample - 1Mobility, GPS, and maps

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Foursquare sample - 2Mobility, GPS, and maps

Indeed, there are seamless connections among locations – tourist locations, too! – their geographical representation on the Web (on Google Maps, or on Foursquare …) and your customers’ mobile phones.This is very interesting from a tourist point of view.1.Your website can use Google Maps to provide your customers with drive directions to your business.2.Destinations can provide location-based information on their heritage and tourist services.3.Destinations can provide such location-based info through mobile devices like smartphones.

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Location-Based ServicesMobility, GPS, and maps

There’s more to be considered. Proximity. Tourists equipped with up-to-date smartphones can get relevant information on the POIs they are physically approaching (museums, hotels, etc.), by the very fact they are approaching them. Language. Pieces of text designed to deliver information through smartphones should be devised and written in order to be easily – perhaps automatically – translatable under different cultures. Speech. Due to ergonomic limits that are part and parcel with smartphones, information is likely to be delivered less as readable text than as voice. In the tourist information world, too, Text-to-Speech may become more popular than it is today. (Tablets, however, may be offering a solution to the question posed by ergonomic limits.)

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Proximity, Language, and SpeechMobility, GPS, and maps