Mobile, Smartphones, Wi-Fi, and Apps

Mobile, Smartphones, Wi-Fi, and Apps

What Are We Talking About Today? 1. Mobile 2. Different Needs 3. Geolocation & Georeference 4. Mobile-Friendliness 5. Location-Based Services 6. Wi-Fi 7. Apps vs. Websites slide 2

Mobile Source: ComScore 2014 Source: The Telegraph November 11, 2016 slide 3

They re Around Bag Destination Cell phone Shoes Image credit to oneindia.com slide 4

Different Needs? Talking about tourism and mobility, let s see now whether tourist needs are expressed and addressed via a desktop computer or through a mobile device, i.e. on-the-move. slide 5

From Home Before leaving On a desktop computer Information Search Fore-Seeing Customization Information Comparison Purchase of Products Purchase of Personal Services slide 6

Information Search on tourist destinations on tours or routes on accommodation on airlines on railways on car rental on packaged tours slide 7

Fore-Seeing through pictures through videos through presentations through augmented reality through virtual reality slide 8

Customization segmentation down to the single tourist privacy - as we will see - is disappearing slide 9

Information Comparison User Generated Content Photo sharing Video sharing slide 10

Purchase Of Products or e-commerce from Travel Providers through OnLine Travel Agents (OTA) directly from destinations from specialized publishers slide 11

Purchase Of Personal Services local guides guided tours local courses (cuisine, arts & crafts etc.) slide 12

On-The-Move Now, let's take into consideration which tourist needs are expressed by mobile users. slide 13

Through Mobile Devices While Travelling Through a mobile device Local Information Advice Geographical Positioning Information on Public Transport Reassurance Communication slide 14

Local Information What can I do? Will that venue still be open? What is this building? slide 15

Advice Any good place to have a meal? Any free toilets in the area? Any affordable activities? slide 16

Geographical Positioning Where am I? Which way to the main square? Which way to my hotel? slide 17

Information on Public Transport Which bus shall I take? And where from? Shall I purchase tickets in advance? It's late... Will the bus still be running? slide 18

Reassurance Is it going to rain? Will I find a parking place for my car? Where? And how much will they charge me? Is this a dangerous area? slide 19

Communication I need to make a phone call! I need to send a short message! I wish I could visit that webpage... slide 20

Georeference Several of the functions mentioned above depend on geographical positioning. And geographical position is based on georeference. According to Wikipedia, to georeference something means to define its existence in physical space. slide 21

Longitude and Latitude According to Wikipedia, 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. slide 22

A Longitude and a Latitude Any place can be defined by its longitude and latitude. slide 23

Points of Interest Places, which may be interesting for tourists, have their georeferenced positions detected through satellites (again just coordinates: longitude and latitude). Georeferenced places stored in data systems are called Points of Interest (POIs). slide 24

Georeferenced POIs Georeferenced Points of Interest (POIs) stored in data systems - like Google Maps or Here -- can be read by users devices like smartphones. If a device knows its geographical position, it can read and list which POIs can be found in the area, and show directions to reach those POIs. slide 25

The Global Positioning System 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 systems (like Tom Tom) and - increasingly - smartphones like the iphone or Android-based mobile phones. There are more than one GNSS. Europe is developing the Galileo GNSS. slide 26

Or GPS User Segment Space Segment Control Segment slide 27

Google Maps Coordinates #1 slide 28

Google Maps Coordinates #2 slide 29

Google Maps Coordinates #3 slide 30

Google Maps Coordinates #4 slide 31

Google Maps Coordinates #5 slide 32

Google Maps Vs. OpenStreetMap Google Maps is currently the most diffused proprietary map system. It relies on different providers of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) according to different countries, and is somehow opposed to Open Street Map, an open source map system. slide 33

Mobile-Friendliness A Google Tool checks mobile compliance, or mobilefriendliness. slide 34

Location-Based Services 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 smartphones. 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. slide 35

Foursquare Foursquare is a local search-and-discovery service mobile app which provides search-results for its users. By taking into account the places where a user goes, the things they have told the app that they like, and the other users whose advice they trust, Foursquare provides recommendations of the places to go to near a user's current location. The service was created in late 2008 and launched in 2009. slide 36

Foursquare Sample #1 slide 37

Foursquare Sample #2 slide 38

Foursquare Sample #3 slide 39

Destinations vs. Wi-Fi Coverage Infrastructure, especially those that support digital connectivity, are strategic for enabling and supporting smart city tourist services. Of course, different levels of complexity and cost infrastructure connect to different governance levels. Fiber backbones and 5G networks involve national and regional government and high-level decision makers whereas free Wi-Fi directly involves local government, municipality and citizens. Lorenzi, Mancin, Cagol (2014) slide 40

Apple The mobile phone technology has changed people s habits. Smartphones are now more popular than wristwatches. Apple has imposed the iphone model, a closed world where you enter only by accepting Apple's operating system ios, and gradually adding specific applications. This is the model we refer to when we talk of apps. slide 41

Apps vs. Websites The same way, Google has imposed its own Android operating system. People often install ios or Android horizontal apps, as for social networks or maps. Less often do they download vertical apps for a town or a resort... Individual towns, resorts or cultural institutions are in growing need of mobile-friendly websites. slide 42