Skip to main content
European Commission logo print header

GEographically relevant information for moBile users in Protected AReas

Objective

Imagine you are hiking in the Swiss National Park and wonder if you are entering an area where a delicate habitat should not be disturbed. Or walking through the tidal floor on the northern coast of France, and want to check when the tidal wave will be approaching. Or boating along the maze of canals and small lakes in the Netherlands, and looking for a harbour for the evening. The European project Web Park focuses on providing visitors of protected and recreation areas with location-aware services. These services can enhance the quality of the user experience and facilitate the protection of habitats and natural resources by better informing users on their surroundings.

Visitors of protected and recreation areas, such as coastal, rural and mountainous areas, need to have access to the correct and most up-to-date information regarding their location and points of interest around them in order to enhance their experience. At present, these geographic information needs of walkers, sailors, mountaineers, cyclists, and tourists are met through many informal and asynchronous channels of communication. However, the widespread availability of mobile internet devices in the next few years with location capabilities will create an opportunity to meet the information needs of this user group through the provision of location-based services.

Objectives:
Several personalized value-added Location Based Services (LBS) will be developed within the Web Park framework. They build upon existing information currently delivered to tourists and professional users of recreation and protected areas via CD, kiosk and web. These services will enable users to request information from several databases from their mobile phone or PDA and filtering the information based on location, time and user profile relevance.

A distinction is made between general, freely accessible services and pay-per-use services. Micro payments are based on an Internet wallet account where individuals can establish a cash balance. Premium services, that require a user subscription, will provide additional personalization capabilities and also push services, such as weather changes or avalanche alarms.

These services build upon the extensive experience of the Web Park consortium. This consortium includes commercial partners and University institutions with a proven track record in location based services, IT, and geographical information research. The consortium is completed by the participation of end user organizations, such as park administrations.

Work description:
web Park is based on Open GIS, 3-tier architecture and web mapping technology. The services are accessible from any HTML/WML/i-MODE enabled browser. The Web Park services interface to multiple location technology, from GPS to location determination technologies of mobile operators. All communication, storage and interfaces are based on open standards such as Open GIS for spatial data, and LIF for location information processing and management.

Milestones:
1) Technology: Mobile service platform testbed; Personalisation based upon knowledge discovery; Place- and time-sensitive GI brokering and push;
2) Market: recreation and tourism G-commerce products determined from surveys; a GI integration strategy for LBS provision; G-commerce value-chain models for charging mobile users;
3) Demonstration: Valued added LBS for leisure/tourism users in recreation/protected areas; G-commerce integration with charging models.

Call for proposal

Data not available

Coordinator

GEODAN MOBILE SOLUTIONS B.V.
EU contribution
No data
Address
PRESIDENT KENNEDYLAAN 1
1079 MB AMSTERDAM
Netherlands

See on map

Total cost
No data

Participants (5)