6. Conclusions

CICER1 can have a future because the idea derived from a successful service: WebPark developed by the Swiss National Park and used by tourists every year (Vespucci LBS, 2003). The tourists walking around the park can check their PDA with GPS to get information about flora and fauna presented in a specific area. CICER1 translates WebPark in a different environment and tourist experience: cultural tourism in historical cities. It also tries to supply more than Webpark because its future application will be on the next generation mobile phones using assisted GPS. This will have less costs on users because assisted GPS is embedded in telephone devices and because they will not need PDAs using UMTS phones. Thanks to UMTS video communication will be available through instant messaging and chat. The compiled on line form will help in the search of users with similar preferences. Future scenario prospects a great number of push services: tourists can get information, without asking for them as soon he approaches an LBS (for example the dish of the day in a restaurant). Evolutions of this pilot project must consider some technological problems that occurred during CICER1 implementation. The signal reception is hard because of narrow streets and high buildings typical of Florence: some time triangulation is unavailable. Walking by the streets does not help: sometimes you need to stop and wait for connection. This unwanted rests annoy tourists and constitute a continuous distraction from the tour experience. The PDAs are heavy and uncomfortable to carry. As you can notice in fig. 13, the screen is still small and the user is forced to watch it steadily. ArcPad uses a lot of PDA memory causing slowness in calculation and visualization of the cartographic layers (zooming, pan).

FIG. 13 – DIFFERENT VIEWS IN CICER1 (Team “CICER1” elaboration, 2003)

Other problems are not related to technology but to “intrusiveness” of the service: PDA and mobile phones are distractions for a tourist that might not want to be bothered by electronic devices. This leads to a consideration on the kind of tourist that will use the system. At first stage of CICER1’s users will be technology enthusiasts and people looking for status symbol technologies. Standardization and diffusion (with lower prices) will take more time. Finally, one of the biggest problem is the billing of this service: there are high fixed costs for hardware, software and data. PDA, GPS, ArcPad and data updating are quite expensive and costs have to be sustained for the use of telephone networks, website maintenance and insurance for rented devices. In conclusion, CICER1 works well but it is still too expensive. It will be more affordable if implemented on next generation mobile phones: telecom operators are investing more on services like CICER1. But still a question remains: will the tourists use their mobile phones as a “leisure tool” even during holydays?

Endnotes

1 Even if CICER1 has not become a real commercial service, it really worked. Among the development team I have the pleasure to work with Chris Frank, the founder of Intelligent Spatial Technologies. Please visit the company’s website and discover iPointer system as the evolution of CICER1 on mobile devices: http://www.i-spatialtech.com/ipointer.htm

2 There are other classifications, among these the four categories one: location based information, location sensitive billing emergency services e tracking. This classification is also cited in some FGC for example: “A report on Technical and Operational Issues Impacting The Provision of Wireless Enhanced 911 Services” pag, 43. For further information visit: http://www.mobilein.com/location_based_services.htm

3 The website is not active because CICER1 is not working now.

4 Source: http://www.rete.toscana.it/sett/territorio/carto/ (Firenze map section), producer: Regione Toscana.

5 The original file was in dwf, format used by Autodesk for web applications. With the plug-in Whip was possible the conversion in .dwg format. Using ArcGIS were selected the layers needed, converted in polygonal shape files and projected in UTM zone 32N projection.

6 Source: http://sit.comune.fi.it/ortofoto/ e http://www.sitimet.com/ortofoto_centro_storico.htm, producer: s.i.t.i.met s.p.a.

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