From Smart City to Smart Tourism
How Open Data driven apps improve the tourist experience
From big to small cities in Europe, many want to become a smart city by connecting their citizens with local administrations. However with summer around the corner, many cities will also attract visitors who can reap the benefits of the Smart City.
The following article by Journal Du Net presents a number of examples in which (open) data is used to create apps directed at local tourists in various cities. These apps range from offering information on parking spots or connecting visitors with tour guides (Paris, FR) to showing what the city looked like decades ago using augmented reality (Santander, ES). As these apps are data driven, cities also have to think about how tourists can access the internet on their own mobile devices, for example by providing free WiFi (Bordeaux, FR).
By using available (open) data to create apps for visitors, cities can satisfy the needs of connected visitors and thereby improve their stay in and memory of the place they visited. This way smart cities not only serve the citizens who live in the city but also accommodate those who visit.
Read more (Article in French): http://www.journaldunet.com/economie/services/1174028-smart-tourism-destination/