The Design and Implementation of a Cloud-Based Tour Guide System for the Taiwan Lantern Festival

Transcription

1 Proceedings of International Symposium on City Planning 2013 The Design and Implementation of a Cloud-Based Tour Guide System for the Taiwan Lantern Festival *1Dr. Hung Nien Hsieh, *2Dr. Hsin Wen Chang, and *3Dr. K. M. Yu 1.Department of Urban planning and Architecture 2.Head of Department and Associate Professor School of Tourism, Dept. of Leisure & Recreation Planning 3.Dean of college of computer CHUNG-HUA UNIVERSITY, TAIWAN Abstract The Hsinchu technopolis in Taiwan is widely recognized as the Silicon Valley of Asia. To assist the science-based industrial city in hosting a major event, namely, the Taiwan Lantern Festival, a high-tech guiding system was experimentally implemented to support meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions (MICE) tourism and event management. During the 2-week Lantern Festival holiday, more than 150,000 tourists used the Wi-Fi guiding system. Because cell phone roaming charges for foreign tourists are typically substantial, a free Wi-Fi environment was created, which also assisted in promoting the Lantern Festival. Thus, the technological solutions were focused on satisfying the needs of both international and domestic tourists. The results of this research provide a valuable and beneficial reference for tourism and city marketing in both the public and private sectors. KEYWORDS: MEGA-EVENT, INTERPRETATION, CLOUD NETWORK, DATA MINING - 1 -

2 1. Introduction The authors of this study currently serve as teachers at Chung Hua University in the Hsinchu technopolis. They have integrated cross-discipline cooperation between tourism and information technology while participating in academia-industry collaboration with 5creen Corporation. Consequently, tour guide functions have been integrated with information and communications technology (ICT) to promote the concept of a mobile cloud-based tour guide system. This study proposes a novel travel and tourism trend, namely, travelers skipping through clouds, by using Taiwan s ICT, which has flourished over the past 30 years, to provide value added functions in the popular domestic tourism industry. A Wi-Fi network was used to construct a local cloud for all tourist attractions (using a wireless local area network). Mass transit for green tourism was also incorporated into this project, and tour buses and trains were employed to establish a cloud-based tour guide system that was both mobile and wireless. Furthermore, a navigation or tour guide technique that displays a 720 environment was adopted to introduce local travel information, enabling tourists to obtain free information regarding the characteristics of various tourist attractions using mobile electronic devices such as smartphones when traveling on tour buses or trains. This study proposed the slogan TOUR ICT to emphasize that tourists do not need to download complex or varying applications in advance, nor are they required to input or memorize relevant URLs. By connecting to the Wi-Fi network, users can travel and use travel information freely with the assistance of cloud technology. This eliminates foreign tourists need to adopt the roaming functions on their mobile devices; instead, their cell phones and tablet computers can be used to browse local travel information free of charge. The proposed system offers substantial benefits and convenience. The central cloud of the cloud-based tour guide system proposed in this study is capable of monitoring and identifying the number of travelers in real-time, which enables travelers to understand their travel status when on tour buses or trains. Furthermore, the local cloud offers the functionality of instant photograph, video, and article uploads at various tourist attractions and travel destinations. These benefits provide enjoyable experiences of using the touchscreen function of personal smart phones. The immediacy and convenience of mobile tour guides offers tourists the opportunity to explore local scenery and sights and experience the type of cultural tourism most emphasized in the 21st century, namely, location-based services, and also emphasizes life-seeing tourism (i.e., tourism and travel that involves experiencing local life). 2. Wi-Fi Cloud-Based Tour Guide System 2.1 System Explanation The Wi-Fi cloud-based tour guide system is an extension of the current concepts of digital guide systems and electronic public information boards. These concepts enable personal smartphones or mobile electronic devices to be used for downloading and browsing information regarding exhibitions and without users needing to read or crowd to see a physical tour guide bulletin board or wait in a queue to use a touchscreen device. Thus, the use of this system is the realization of mobile learning

3 Proceedings of International Symposium on City Planning 2013 Figure 1. System concept When using the Wi-Fi cloud-based tour guide system to examine tour guide information, personal mobile devices are connected to the Wi-Fi network. Consequently, cell phones or other electronic devices with a touchscreen function can be employed to access required tour or guide information easily. The implementation of this system allows users to access the touchscreen guide functions of traditional large-scale guide machines (e.g., kiosks) through handheld devices. 2.2 System Characteristics Guides can easily access detailed information to assist tourists The proposed Wi-Fi cloud-based tour guide system is easy to use, and the downloading of applications or entering of complicated URLs is unnecessary. Connecting to the Wi-Fi network is convenient, and guide information in exhibition halls can be immediately acquired (Fig. 2). Furthermore, guides can employ the abundant audio-visual data in the system to offer visitors in-depth explanations. Figure 2. Abundant and comprehensive content (using the Lantern Festival as an example) Tour guides can also provide passionate and detailed explanations of travel or tourist sites with the use of tablet computers. In addition, the proposed system can eliminate the need for posters and promotions, as well as reduce the confusion of tourists who have not procured brochures, thereby decreasing promotional costs (e.g., costs for printing brochures and promotional items). Furthermore, the Wi-Fi cloud-based tour - 3 -

4 guide system enables tour guides to transition from using static figures and texts for explanations to incorporating animations and videos in their presentations (Fig. 3). Consequently, visitors will be better able to promptly understand the abundant and diverse data provided. Figure 3. Instructions for playing videos using the proposed system (considering the Lantern Festival as an example) Comprehensive provisioning facilitates convenient tourist management Single-point provisioning can be conducted using the Wi-Fi cloud-based tour guide system; thus, visiting tourists can enjoy comprehensive structuring and installed services. The proposed system also features tourist management and activity recording functions. Figure 4.Tourist management concept - 4 -

5 Proceedings of International Symposium on City Planning 2013 Visiting tourists can independently employ the Wi-Fi cloud-based tour guide system. Wi-Fi transmitters (AP) for connecting to the proposed system are provided in all pavilions of the exhibition hall, transmitting different signals according to the exhibition content. The system can also calculate the number of online users. As shown in Fig. 4, after the system identifies that Pavilion 5 is too crowded, personnel are notified to promptly regulate the number of visitors at the pavilion, and a warning is sent to all visitors using the system. After the exhibition closes every day, the Wi-Fi cloud-based tour guide system automatically generates a report (Fig. 5) listing the tour guide content downloaded by visitors and the number of visitors to each pavilion, which can be referenced by exhibition personnel. The system can also provide a visitor questionnaire to enable the management unit to understand the demands and perceptions of the visitors. Figure 5. Visitor activity report 2.3 Benefits of the Wi-Fi Cloud-Based Tour Guide System for the Exhibition Hall (a) Increases visitor satisfaction with the exhibition hall i. A humanized operation interface that provides convenient and comprehensive exhibition information ii. Reports the number of visitors at each pavilion, ensuring a comfortable exhibition environment iii. Identifies user locations and offers visitors a clear exhibition route (b) Provides insight regarding the most popular exhibition types or items as a reference for future exhibitions i. Collects the time, frequency, and content of information access ii. Suggestion retrieval function to obtain visitor perceptions and feedback or suggestions (c) Effectively promotes exhibition hall activity and information i. Diverse layout design ii. Real-time message transmission - 5 -

6 (d) Increases the popularity of the exhibition hall i. Novel tour guide system ii. Provides international tourists with user-friendly methods and channels by which to access information 3. Conclusions The Hsinchu technopolis in Taiwan is widely recognized as the Silicon Valley of Asia. To assist the science-based industrial city in hosting a major event, namely, the Taiwan Lantern Festival, a high-tech guiding system was experimentally implemented to support meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions (MICE) tourism and event management. Because smartphones are set to replace standard phones over the next 2 years, and Wi-Fi networks are becoming increasingly widespread, smartphones and Wi-Fi networks were arranged for international tourists during the Lantern Festival. Central cloud and local cloud computing networks were also established to provide valuable tourism information. The central cloud system monitored the condition of each local cloud, and each local cloud offered location-based services, including access to media tours, transportation, food and beverages, accommodation, event programs, tourist services, and so on. This central and local cloud network provided tourists with a useful and free service. Local clouds were established in train stations, tourist information centers, and the high-speed rail station. During the 2-week Lantern Festival holiday, more than 150,000 tourists used the Wi-Fi guiding system. Because cell phone roaming charges for foreign tourists are typically substantial, a free Wi-Fi environment was created, which also assisted in promoting the Lantern Festival. Thus, the technological solutions were focused on satisfying the needs of both international and domestic tourists. Users were not required to download any applications before attending the festival. Additionally, tourists could join the tour guide cloud network at any time by simply connecting to the Wi-Fi network and opening a Web browser. When inside local cloud networks, tourists could obtain all local tourist information free of charge. Tourist arrival times were also simultaneously recorded. For tourists who departed from the local cloud network coverage area, their smartphone would automatically switch from Wi-Fi to 3G Internet and maintain connection to the central cloud network. Tourist behavior and tourism routing could be tracked by applying data mining. The results of this research provide a valuable and beneficial reference for tourism and city marketing in both the public and private sectors