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This project is co-financed by the ERDF and made possible by the INTERREG IVC programme

Advanced information technologies for promoting tourism in municipalities in Crete

Education team

Computer Center

University Of Crete

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This project is co-financed by the ERDF and made possible by the INTERREG IVC programme

ICT in tourism promotion• The promotion of tourism through ICT technologies is one of the most

difficult areas.

• The reason for this is the involvement of public administration, local businessmen, and development policies established by the existing needs of the economy of each place.

• The basic design and methodology used in this scenario comes from the best practice implementations that already exist in the tourism industry.

– interactivity

– local development promotion

– tourism promotion.

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This project is co-financed by the ERDF and made possible by the INTERREG IVC programme

Background and funding of the program

Project Title:

“Innovative services for the promotion of the cultural heritage and argo-tourism in regional municipalities of Crete”

Sub Project Title: “Development of a system including :

a) Web 2.0 services for information sharing

b) SMS-3G services

c) GIS application

d)data “digitalization”

Partner municipalities: Nea Alikarnasos (head municipality), Zaros, Paliani, Temenous, Sfakion.

Funding:80 % EU funding : Operational Program “Information Society” and 20% National funds

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This project is co-financed by the ERDF and made possible by the INTERREG IVC programme

Problem addressed and its importance

• Based on the analysis of the state: – Lack of targeted information for cultural heritage and

natural environment.– Insufficient cultural, agro-tourism promotion.– Lack of a well organized web portal with advanced

services, free to every visitor.

• Importance: Designing and developing a new portal– principles of Web 2.0 – advanced ICT services

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This project is co-financed by the ERDF and made possible by the INTERREG IVC programme

Objectives• Promoting cultural heritage and Developing Tourism Resources• Promote alternative type of tourism• Ease of access to information of cultural traditional and historical

value• Provide innovative services to visitors as well as residents • Assist local entrepreneurs to present their small business with no

cost.• Personal experience sharing + validated information sharing

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This project is co-financed by the ERDF and made possible by the INTERREG IVC programme

Operational approach • Develop a user-oriented approach

– Both front and back office platforms • Store once, multiple use

– Efficient organization of data • Compliance to interoperability

– Use of web services– Implemented via modular programming

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This project is co-financed by the ERDF and made possible by the INTERREG IVC programme

Service developed and innovation Services• Interactive services for the visitor

– Calendar of events – Share experiences– Comments on map

• Receive personalized information (MMS, SMS, mail) • Easy access to structured and thematic information• Using maps with points of interest, routes, and ability to

interact with the users.

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This project is co-financed by the ERDF and made possible by the INTERREG IVC programme

Service developed and innovation Innovation • Linking content with points of interest and routes on maps • Inform the visitor through various ways (email, SMS) with

personalized information• Provide Web 2.0 services to visitors and entrepreneurs

– Allow pre-travel planning and information gathering as well as sharing post-travel experiences

– Allow user to upload multimedia content – Allow users to comments on maps– Allow users to share personal experiences via forum application.– Allow entrepreneurs to register and promote their business.

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This project is co-financed by the ERDF and made possible by the INTERREG IVC programme

Penetration and market acceptance

• Action has been taken for promoting the project – public awareness – printed material – conferences

• The implementation of Kallikratis project – slowed down penetration process– Slowed down market acceptance

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This project is co-financed by the ERDF and made possible by the INTERREG IVC programme

Transferability of the services • Developed an open source product

• Use open source DBMS

• Platform independent

• No licenses required

• No installation required

• Fully accessible through web

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This project is co-financed by the ERDF and made possible by the INTERREG IVC programme

Technological approach followed• Attempt an open source approach for the

implementation.– Improve interoperability– Use web services

• Develop a secure custom CMS to match the project needs.

• Display portal content through the map application.• Create a robust on-demand information platform.• Develop middleware software to bridge a commercial

GIS application with the portal

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This project is co-financed by the ERDF and made possible by the INTERREG IVC programme

The ICT architecture of the method followed

Multitier architecture – the commonly used three-tier :• A front-end web server serving static content, and cached dynamic

content. • A middle dynamic content processing and generation level

application server.• A back-end database, comprising both data sets and the database

management system software.

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This project is co-financed by the ERDF and made possible by the INTERREG IVC programme

Open issues and future challenges

• Include more areas • Add services

– Connect with social networks– Wikis

• Develop dedicated mobile applications • Content validation• Add multilingual content• Cooperation between local authorities under the

directions of Crete Region.

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This project is co-financed by the ERDF and made possible by the INTERREG IVC programme

www.explore-crete.gr

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This project is co-financed by the ERDF and made possible by the INTERREG IVC programme

Backoffice 2 frontoffice

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This project is co-financed by the ERDF and made possible by the INTERREG IVC programme

Thank you

dev-team@edu.uoc.gr

2810-393353

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