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Development of a 3D-map interface for touristinformation on mobile computers

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Interactive services for boating tourists

The TellMaris project has developed an application running on a laptop that can hold different maps inside the same device. The application offers boating tourists, for example, a 3D-navigation view of their surroundings, as well as other relevant services that can ease tourists' journeys in the Baltic Sea region.

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The navigation system is developed especially for use in boat travel. The on-board application combines GPS-navigation with 3D terrain and 2D map viewers. In addition, it includes weather forecast services and tourist information as part of the package. Tourist information on harbour facilities, hotels, shopping and cultural events is just a mouse-click away using the 3D map displayed on the screen of a laptop. The clickable objects on the map can be real objects in the landscape or abstract representations. These link to a description of the target, such as a facility or an event and give further links for more information. The users' preferences can be stored in the TellMaris database. Based on this, the application can directly propose to the user, along the journey, the type of information he or she may be interested in. Further tourist information is searchable from the Tellus database (tourism information server), which has also been developed in the framework of the project. All services can be used together or separately, with for example, 2D and 3D maps combining in showing the user's surroundings in relation to the GPS positioning of the boat. In addition, it is possible to navigate according to two types of view. One type is the 'sail view', which supports the view from the boat and the other, the 'bird's-eyes-view', gives a comprehensive panorama of the surrounding terrain. The application covers harbours, tourist attractions and services in the Baltic Sea region and Skagerak (Norway). The prototype is currently based on a laptop computer. However, the aim is to make the data accessible from a web-based server, so that information is dynamically kept up to date.

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