Developing Web-Based Tourist Information Tools Using Google Map

This paper reports an explanatory study of using Google Map API to develop two destinationspecific tourist information tools: a handheld tour guide and an online trip planner for Charleston, South Carolina, USA. The background, development, functionality, and adoption issues were discussed. The handheld tour guide is based on mobile phones with a GPS antenna to communicate with Google Map and deliver real-time and location-sensitive tourist information. Online Charleston trip planner combines destination specific information with Google Map to provide an interactive trip planning tool based on the map metaphor. The handheld tour guide is slow and unstable due to memory limitations and slow Internet connection provided by the mobile phone service. The online trip planner is being adopted by various hotels and conferences. The development effort demonstrated that Google Map API is a flexible tool with reasonable speed for developing destination-specific online services. For mobile tools...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2007
• Where: ENTER
• Authors: Bing Pan, John C. Crotts, Brian Muller
• Keywords: ENTER 2007, Google Map, Handheld Tour Guide, Information Management, Trip Planner