WalkOnWeb Your digital guide for walking in Europe

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Eustace Thompson
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1 WalkOnWeb Your digital guide for walking in Europe Project introduction and future outlooks Bert Paepen Katholieke Universiteit Leuven : your digital guide for walking in Europe

2 Project starting points Any of these sounds familiar? It s Saturday evening. My wife gets the idea to go walking on Sunday. We d like to do a 4-hour walk in the surroundings of Spa, but we don t have any maps or books about the region. Were can we get information? We are walking with our GR topoguide through the woods at a crossing all GR marks are gone due to wood cutting: do we go left or right? book s description is unclear and map is not detailed enough

3 Project starting points Any of these sounds familiar? Santa Clause brought me a brand new GPS device With all detailed maps of Belgium With a built-in compass Now I will not get lost in the woods anymore But: now that I know about all maps and always know where I am, how do I know what places are nice to visit, what walks are beautiful? We are planning a 7-day hiking trip to Crete We cannot find any decent maps The only guidebook we found was in German We want to hike in the opposite direction of the guidebook!

4 What is currently available? > Devices GPS Adapted to the hiker s needs: small, light, waterproof Small screen Display topographic maps up to very detailed level Jump directly to relevant map area Show points-of-interest (hotels, restaurants, ) Limited navigation possibilities Where am I on the map? Show the course of the trail Show what road to turn to next (mostly not supported by detailed topographic maps! so not usable for hikers) Almost no semantic information about the trail Poor overview on map Usefulness completely dependent on availability of map information Reliability? Battery, GPS reception,

5 What is currently available? > Devices PDA Less adapted to hiker (not water proof, less shock resistant) Bigger screen Overview on map slightly better than GPS (but still poor) GPS integrated or in separate receiver Other characteristics similar than GPS Smart phone Connection to outside world (GPRS, GSM) Usually smaller screen than PDA More and more integrated Mobile device of the future is a phone, GPS, digital camera, small computer, voice recorder, music player, etc. The ideal device for a walker combines GPS, GSM and PDA (and maybe also a camera!)

6 What is currently available? > The ideal device for a walker? The ideal mobile device for a walker is: Lightweight Slim Combining GPS, PDA and smartphone Is also a photo camera Reliable Waterproof and shockproof Not too expensive Of course depending on your personal preferences not existing yet ;-(

7 What is currently available? > Example combination device

8 What is currently available? > Information sources Analogue form Maps Paper, folded In books Trails and descriptions GR topo-guides Commercial hiking guides Walks published by tourist offices, local governments, Magazines of hiking organisations Related information Commercial tourist guides Digital form Maps CD-ROMs (+ web updates) Trails and descriptions Web sites, CD-ROMs, Related information Web sites, CD-ROMs,

9 What is currently available? > Results from user study Hikers typically use combination of information sources for planning a walk and for finding practical information Most used: websites, CD-ROMs, guidebooks and paper maps Navigation: GPS has been (and is) a revolution Traditional tools (maps, compasses, altimeters) only do one thing GPS devices do all these functions at once Traditional tools cannot be replaced completely by electronic tools reliability problems of electronic devices maps combine overview with detail ( GPS) Even GPS freaks still carry a traditional map as a backup

10 Current problems Difficult to get the right information Diverse Different sources and forms Foreign languages Hardly any links e.g. between long-distance trail crossing a local path e.g. between topographic map and navigation instructions Hard to find: other countries, local tourist offices Flexible? e.g. compose your own walk Most current electronic publications are derived from paper publications

11 Current problems Disadvantages of using books and paper maps For users Heavy Expensive Not flexible: easily outdated, have to buy the whole book, one language, one direction Cross-border walking: incompatible map formats For publishers High fixed costs Expensive data collection and transformation

12 Current problems Geographic maps on GPSs are still rudimentary Raster based maps Limited user interaction Tracks/trails are displayed over a map, not on a map (not linked to geographic objects) Available tracks/trails only have geographic component (no semantics) No additional information available (e.g. a text about the history of a castle or a local story) Lack of human-authored hiking path information for GPSs A lot of volunteers however are willing to put time in hiking path collaborations

13 Wouldn t it be great to have A website where walkers can Search for hiking trails in any European country Get descriptions about trails in their own language Print all the information they want about a trail or export it to their mobile device Be sure they always have the most up-to-date information Give feedback A place where authors can Describe new hiking trails and change existing trails (e.g. change of its course) Link trails to related information A mobile device that can tell you Your position on the trail you are walking, shown on a detailed map Location-based instructions on where to go next (e.g. after the chapel turn right into the steep rocky path ) Interesting things along the walk

14 Project objectives New publishing model for hiking information Flexible approach for hikers Up-to-date information Personalised Cost-effective for publishers Avoid high fixed costs of book printing Collaborative content authoring Distributed data retrieval model Central system gathers and combines information Applications supporting this model Walk Planner (website to search for walks) Mobile Hiking Assistant (walking guide on mobile device) Authoring Tool (application for authors to create and maintain walks) Challenges: Business, legal issues Scientific, technological

15 Business challenges Ownership Intellectual property rights Joint ownership Protection of IP v. data sharing Payment Division of revenues Payment and billing methods Pricing schemes Protection of copyrighted data Cooperation between commercial publishers and non-profit organisations Commercial exploitation

16 Technological challenges Content integration from distributed information sources Types of content Geographic data Walking path descriptions Tourist information (points of interest) Information structures allowing Integration of content Publishing in multiple ways and formats Language and direction independent authoring Mobile devices User-customized information Rich map interfaces Secure data exchange Collaborative information authoring Semantic interoperability

17 Solutions proposed by WalkOnWeb Business model Agreements between providers Payment methods Redistribution of revenues Copyright protection Encryption of information Access restriction SVG for Rich Map Interface on Mobile Devices Maps in vector-based format More interactivity Separation of data and cartographic rendering Country-dependent rendering E.g. a French user sees a Belgian topographic way in the French way and with a French legend

18 Solutions proposed by WalkOnWeb Semantically rich information structures Fine-grained semantic structures Single source, multi-publish: web, paper, GPS Ontology for semantic interoperability and content integration Walk points linked to ontology concepts Central information structures linking data from different providers Distributed data sources Centralised: hiking path structures Allowing collaborative authoring Distributed: topographic and tourist info databases Most up-do-date information Personalised publishing

19 Demonstrations Project presentation Demonstration of applications and innovations Walk Planner Mobile Hiking Assistant Authoring Tool Also available on see public documents: Project Presentation Needed: Macromedia Flash player ( ) SVG demo site of hiking paths Embryonic version of Walk Planner Student project Information Dutch only See also Needed:Internet Explorer with Adobe SVG plugin ( )

20 Current project status Market study performed Focus group discussions with hikers Questionnaire with ±600 hikers Questionnaire with ±25 heavy users Questionnaire to walking organisations Talks with key players in domain Research on existing devices Requirements defined for application development First ideas on commercialisation developed Commercial test cases now until end 2005 Information structures defined Application development starting now Expected to finish end 2006 with user testing around May and September 2006

21 Some findings from the end user questionnaire Average day hike is 13,44 km Average time needed for preparation: 2,21 h Most important motives: Nature, nice views, recreation Hikers have a need for information on nature Need for information on cultural sights is rather low Hikers primary goal is nature Social contacts are only secondary Hikers want to plan the hike in advance, they try to avoid changes caused by bad weather conditions Considering the weather forecast is part of the planning activity

22 Some findings from the end user questionnaire Accuracy of information is of utmost importance Correct Up to date Adapted to time and place (e.g. hunting, forest fires) Weather Not a main reason for choosing a hike Still an important factor Hikers want to know Information on child-friendliness is important for parents but also for persons without children Information on availability of bathrooms is as important as availability of food and beverages Most hikers bring food themselves (85%)

23 Some findings from the end user questionnaire Maps Map is the main navigation tool (rather than verbal way descriptions) Map view should not be cluttered 2D vs3d: No clear tendency (55% 2D vs 45% 3D) No clear correlation between hiking experience/map usage and preference for 2D vs 3D maps Trust in electronic device Sign says right, GPS says left 52% choose left, 48% right GPS Device owners: 60% vs 40% No GPS: 49% vs 51%

24 Some findings from the end user questionnaire Paying for information? How much would you pay for a folder of a day hike with all the information you need? Average: ca. 3 Same information electronically on your PDA: 3,35 Tendency to pay per hike Users realise that good information comes with a price

25 Consortium overview Participant name Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Coordinator) Center for Usability Research and Engineering Luciad NV APIF Moviquity SA Institut Géographique National Fédération Française de la Randonnée Pédestre Uitgeverij Lannoo Vakantiegenoegens Country Belgium Austria Belgium Spain France France Belgium Belgium European Ramblers Association

26 Collaborations Partners Grote Routepaden (GR Flanders) Belgian mapping agency (NGI) Project Interest Group Who: Hikers, Walking organisations, Related projects, Publishers, Goal: more co-operation during project, possible future exploitation How:get access to non-public project documents, participate in online discussions, provide feedback on project work Invitation!

27 Outcomes of the project Business model economically viable Technological platform and applications Walk Planner Mobile Hiking Assistant Authoring Tool Demonstrator Test regions: Cross-border region Belgium-France (near coast) Mountain region France (Chartreuse) Evaluation by end users Future exploitation

28 Future outlooks Commercial model has not been decided upon Current tendency: WalkOnWeb offers publishing framework to content providers Content providers distribute their content (hiking guides) to their customers through this framework using their own custom layout WalkOnWeb offers technical support and maintains the system Content providers have their own custom layout Content providers can share their content with others (=resell other providers content) This extends their offer Incomes will be redistributed based on each provider s contribution to the system

29 Future outlooks Possible usage of the WalkOnWeb system Local tourist offices National Parks National or regional walking organisations Cross-border collaboration by walking organisations Future: possible extension to other areas (cycling, kayaking, horse riding, motorcycling, )

30 Project Fact Sheet Official name: Interactive Roadmap for Long Distance Rambling Popular name: Your digital guide for walking in Europe Project Acronym: WalkOnWeb Funding: European Commission, IST programme, Framework Programme 6 Action line: IST : Cross-media content for leisure and entertainment Contract Type: Specific Targeted Research Or Innovation Project Project Cost: ,99 Project Funding: ,98 Project Duration: October 1, 2004 March 30, 2007 (30 months)

31 Project contact details Project director: Prof. Dr. Jan Engelen, Phone: Bert Paepen, Phone: Technical director: Karel Maesen, Phone: Project office: Kasteelpark Arenberg 10, B-3001 Leuven, Belgium Fax: Web: > Subscribe to the WalkOnWeb newsletter!

32 Questionnaire Gap in our market study: data about availability of walking information from hiking organisations throughout Europe How many walks are described in walking guides How much of this guide information is already electronic What is the current status of electronic publishing of walk information amongst European hiking organisations To help assess feasibility of a possible future crossborder walk publishing system Kind invitation to participate

European Ramblers Association. Newsletter 3/2016 August 2016

European Ramblers Association. Newsletter 3/2016 August 2016 ERA European Ramblers Association EWV Europäische Wandervereinigung FERP Fédération Européenne de la Randonnée Pédestre Newsletter 3/2016 August 2016 47 th ERA conference in Hässleholm The meeting documents