Solution design to better manage tourism flows in Venice Günter Gruber und Daniela Lassacher 28 th of January 2011

1. GPS – Global positioning system is a satellite-based navigation system consisting of a network of 24 orbiting satellites GPS works in any weather conditions, anywhere in the world, 24 hours a day GPS satellites transmit signal information to earth  GPS receivers take this information and use triangulation to calculate the user's exact location The GPS receiver compares the time a signal was transmitted by a satellite with the time it was received. The time difference tells the GPS receiver how far away the satellite is. Now, with distance measurements from a few more satellites, the receiver can determine the user's position and display it on the unit's electronic map. 2

2. Smartphone Every Smartphone with embedded GPS receives a signal from a tower and also sends a signal to the tower We will use this signal to count the tourists visiting the city of Venice (the amount of people inside buildings e.g. museums, parkinghouses, we will get via ticket-sale) The tourist is welcome to download a „Venice- Tourist-Application“ to get information about the whole stay in Venice 3

2. Smartphone The application is free, financed by advertisement Every tourist with a GPS embedded Smartphone should download this application However the tourist will benefit from the big offer (e.g. discounts, information about the current parking situation or the density of people visiting specific places, city maps, guided tours) 4

2. Smartphone Download of the Application: –Preregistration of the number of people using the app –Benefits are only available for the booked amount of people  our profit is that we exactly know how many people are behind one GPS signal 5

3. Way of collecting data Urban adminstration: Bureau of planning, traffic and infrstructure of the city of Venice Based on GI-Systems including city maps, population data, frequently visited locations... GPS-information collected by the mobile devices (smartphones) and the on-board computers in the public transportation vehicles Information visualized as mobile points on the GI-structure and e. g. Google Maps Available in our bureau and with specific content on the smartphone application and information desks (see next slides) Special access conditions to popular buildings, churches, museeums comparable to parking spaces: Ticket-Registration at the entrance  Data transmitted to our bureau 6

4. Design of the data maps Content of the GI-Structure in our bureau: –Mobile points equal to a certain amount of people, variations in size or colour to make differences visible –Tracking of the public transportation on their routes –Capacity of parking spaces and sights with a limited access –Example of a map visualising the density of people moving through the city or the volume of traffic on the main roads on the right 7 SOURCE: (2)

4. Design of the data maps Content of the smartphone application: –City map based on Google Maps or GI structure with all sights, gastronomy and public transportation routes (ex. see right bottom) –Easy calculating and visualizing routes to tourist spots; 1-route-offer (out of 5 routes availabe in our office) depending on the amount of people in the districts –Capacity of parking spaces and building sights –Advertisement of restaurants, bars, clubs, hotels with highlighted spots in less frequently visited areas (with price reductions)  refinancing of the app 8 SOURCE: (1) SOURCE: (3)

5. Offers of App and monitors If you have downloaded the new application you can see how many people are visiting the hotspots of Venice. Your benefit is that you can decide based on this information if you will go to a special hotspot right now or even later You can trigger information about the time-table of busses, boats etc. We will offer rotative discounts in different quarters to different times  so we will bring a few tourists out of the inner city, away from the places of interest 9

Additionally we will offer information monitor screens where some pieces of information from the application will be displayed The screens will be located on every hotspot in the city Additionally we will display webcam-videos from all the hotspots so that every tourist can see how many people are on which place just at the moment Free parking facilities visible on larger screens at the main roads Offers of App and monitors

6. Use Case: Weekend Tourist Information booklets in the train pointing at the application Tourist downloads the app while arriving in Venice Offering of a preferred route by us or alternatively sight seeing tour on his own Advertisment of restaurants and bars for spending the time and sleeping facilities (with discounts at best) Public transport information for comfortable travelling Receiving of information on less visited districts and possible access to building sights 11

7. Residents and Tourists Registration of the passport number when downloading the application  identification as resident Benefits for residents: No advertisement of restaurants etc. after downloading the app Ticket-contingent for the residents  access to important buildings always available without waiting times Table-reservation in restaurants via app is only possible for residents Possibility to post suggestions for improvements via the application to try to upgrade the life quality for residents 12

8. Problems and risks Use of personal data: –Delivering of clear information about the intention of using the data before the download of the app –Not considering persons individually, but considering the distribution of people anonymously Financed by advertisement: –Data collecting only for improving the situation for tourists, residents and the local business, no further purpose, no selling to third persons Unfair segmentation of tourists: –Advantages when possessing a smartphone, but information available on monitors as well and in some time nearly everybody will possess a smartphone as gps-device –No one is discriminated, everyone can visit every spot at anytime, but everyone is likely to consider about his time planning by receiving information and discounts 13

References Literature: – – – – – services-185.htmlhttp:// services-185.html Images: – (1) – cambridge-surrounds-1333px.jpg (2) cambridge-surrounds-1333px.jpg – (3) 14