The design and implementation of modern tourism management systems have to interface with the growing technological attitude of users which nowadays mostly approach the selection of the desired destinations through the web. In view of the above, the local tourism actors have to fully embrace the digital transformation by integrating Information Technologies into their operational routines. With this in mind, it is here presented the development of a technological infrastructure to provide with new digital assets to the natural parks of the Insubria, cross-border region stretching between Northern Italy and Southern Switzerland. This work is carried out within the INSUBRI.PARKS project, funded by the Interreg program of the European Union. The final goal of the project is to increase tourism attractiveness of the Insubria region through the provision of new infrastructure, the design of new tourism experiences, and the deployment of Information Technology tools to support the cross-border tourism management and marketing. The tools development is described in detail and the application prototypes are presented. The work leverages exclusively Free and Open Source Software that provides the infrastructure with large rooms of improvements and customization while reducing both development and maintenance costs. Future directions for the work are outlined by considering the amelioration of the presented tools, the development of additional components, and the practical applications of the infrastructure functionalities from the perspective of both park managers and visitors.
La gestione e la promozione del patrimonio naturale rappresentano sfide importanti per gli enti locali e regionali preposti. Oggi più che mai vi è necessità di introdurre tecnologie all'avanguardia nelle procedure gestionali e di comunicazione degli enti gestori, al fine di aumentarne la competitività rispetto a uno scenario turistico internazionale, nonché in un'ottica di ottimizzazione delle risorse. Il progetto INSUBRI.PARKS, finanziato dal programma di cooperazione Interreg Italia-Svizzera 2014-2020 (https://interreg-italiasvizzera.eu/database_progetti/insubri-parks), mira al potenziamento dell'attrattività dei parchi transfrontalieri dell'area insubrica, compresa tra Lombardia (IT) e Canton Ticino (CH), attraverso la creazione di nuovi itinerari tematici e l'introduzione di strumenti Web e software per la gestione, la promozione e il monitoraggio delle aree protette. In parallelo al potenziamento infrastrutturale, il progetto ha come obiettivo la creazione di un sistema di gestione trasversale e condiviso dei parchi transfrontalieri dedicato al marketing territoriale. Il sistema include lo sviluppo di una infrastruttura IT standardizzata per facilitare la raccolta, l'accesso, lo scambio e il riutilizzo di informazioni strategiche per la gestione dell'attività turistica. Data la diretta connessione con il territorio dei soggetti coinvolti, i dati considerati sono prevalentemente di natura geografica. Questi includono dati cartografici di base utili alla caratterizzazione dell'offerta turistico-culturale degli attrattori locali e della mobilità pubblica e pedonale. A causa del contesto politico frammentato, la creazione di una cartografia digitale comune rappresenta il primo passo verso la gestione integrata del turismo nelle aree di confine. La base di dati verrà estesa introducendo osservazioni sui dei flussi di visitatori, raccolte nei siti più emblematici da una rete di sensori low-cost che verrà messa in opera durante il progetto. Infine, contenuti crowdsourcing (social media) o VGI (Volunteered Geographic Information) verranno introdotti per il monitoraggio virtuale delle aree di progetto e la raccolta di feedbacks diretti e indiretti dei visitatori. Lo studio proposto presenta l'implementazione dell'infrastruttura IT, progettata considerando l'utilizzo di tecnologie Software Free e Open Source (FOSS), al fine di garantire la sostenibilità economica dello sviluppo sia nel breve che nel lungo periodo. L'utilizzo del FOSS mira inoltre ad assicurare un accesso agli applicativi equo e uniformato per tutti i soggetti coinvolti, che attualmente operano con modalità eterogenee in termini di strumentazione e know-how digitale. La banca dati è basata su PostgreSQL-PostGIS. La componente server sfrutta GeoServer per la pubblicazione dei dati geospaziali. Un'istanza di istSOS verrà integrata per la gestione dei dati da sensore. Il client di visualizzazione è basato principalmente su OpenLayers. Una dashboard di visualizzazione e analisi dei dati da sensore e crowdsourcing sarà introdotta nel client e resa accessibile ai gestori dei parchi. Applicativi per la raccolta dati sul campo e sistemi di raccomandazione personalizzata per la pianificazione dell'esperienza turistica sono al vaglio e verranno integrati nell'architettura sopra descritta. Vengono discussi infine alcuni use-cases insieme ai benefici attesi dalla co-creazione di strategie gestionali del turismo transfrontaliero mediante piattaforme software aperte e condivise.
The design and implementation of modern tourism management systems have to interface with the growing technological attitude of users which nowadays mostly approach the selection of the desired destinations through the web. In view of the above, the local tourism actors have to fully embrace the digital transformation by integrating Information Technologies into their operational routines. With this in mind, it is here presented the development of a technological infrastructure to provide with new digital assets to the natural parks of the Insubria, cross-border region stretching between Northern Italy and Southern Switzerland. This work is carried out within the INSUBRI.PARKS project, funded by the Interreg program of the European Union. The final goal of the project is to increase tourism attractiveness of the Insubria region through the provision of new infrastructure, the design of new tourism experiences, and the deployment of Information Technology tools to support the cross-border tourism management and marketing. The tools development is described in detail and the application prototypes are presented. The work leverages exclusively Free and Open Source Software that provides the infrastructure with large rooms of improvements and customization while reducing both development and maintenance costs. Future directions for the work are outlined by considering the amelioration of the presented tools, the development of additional components, and the practical applications of the infrastructure functionalities from the perspective of both park managers and visitors.
The design and implementation of modern tourism management systems have to interface with the growing technological attitude of users which nowadays mostly approach the selection of the desired destinations through the web. In view of the above, the local tourism actors have to fully embrace the digital transformation by integrating Information Technologies into their operational routines. With this in mind, it is here presented the development of a technological infrastructure to provide with new digital assets to the natural parks of the Insubria, cross-border region stretching between Northern Italy and Southern Switzerland. This work is carried out within the INSUBRI.PARKS project, funded by the Interreg program of the European Union. The final goal of the project is to increase tourism attractiveness of the Insubria region through the provision of new infrastructure, the design of new tourism experiences, and the deployment of Information Technology tools to support the cross-border tourism management and marketing. The tools development is described in detail and the application prototypes are presented. The work leverages exclusively Free and Open Source Software that provides the infrastructure with large rooms of improvements and customization while reducing both development and maintenance costs. Future directions for the work are outlined by considering the amelioration of the presented tools, the development of additional components, and the practical applications of the infrastructure functionalities from the perspective of both park managers and visitors.
Nowadays, sustainable development and preservation of territories poses a number of challenges requiring innovative and robust technological tools to fully accomplish them. According to this, the design of an integrated tourism management system is here discussed. The tourism management system is developed for the Insubria Region within the INSUBRIPARKS project, funded by the Interreg program of the European Union. The Insubria is a historical-geographical area stretches between Northern Italy and Southern Switzerland embedding a valuable historical and natural heritage. Nevertheless, the tourism potential of the region is not fully exploited due to a fragmented political context within the geographical area that extends across different local and national jurisdictions. The final goal of the project to increase tourism attractiveness of the Insubria Region through the provision of physical infrastructure, the development and promotion of new tourism experiences, and the deployment of a standardized Information Technology infrastructure to support cross-border land management and marketing operations. Central to this paper is the preliminary design of this infrastructure that will provide tools for supporting information generating and consuming among project partners and external stakeholders. The design phase leverages exclusively Free and Open Source Software. Alongside the preliminary architecture, both use cases and user requirements are discussed together with the expected benefits deriving from the co-creation of best tourism management practices by means of open and shared software platforms.
Nowadays, sustainable development and preservation of territories poses a number of challenges requiring innovative and robust technological tools to fully accomplish them. According to this, the design of an integrated tourism management system is here discussed. The tourism management system is developed for the Insubria Region within the INSUBRIPARKS project, funded by the Interreg program of the European Union. The Insubria is a historical-geographical area stretches between Northern Italy and Southern Switzerland embedding a valuable historical and natural heritage. Nevertheless, the tourism potential of the region is not fully exploited due to a fragmented political context within the geographical area that extends across different local and national jurisdictions. The final goal of the project to increase tourism attractiveness of the Insubria Region through the provision of physical infrastructure, the development and promotion of new tourism experiences, and the deployment of a standardized Information Technology infrastructure to support cross-border land management and marketing operations. Central to this paper is the preliminary design of this infrastructure that will provide tools for supporting information generating and consuming among project partners and external stakeholders. The design phase leverages exclusively Free and Open Source Software. Alongside the preliminary architecture, both use cases and user requirements are discussed together with the expected benefits deriving from the co-creation of best tourism management practices by means of open and shared software platforms.
Nowadays, sustainable development and preservation of territories poses a number of challenges requiring innovative and robust technological tools to fully accomplish them. According to this, the design of an integrated tourism management system is here discussed. The tourism management system is developed for the Insubria Region within the INSUBRIPARKS project, funded by the Interreg program of the European Union. The Insubria is a historical-geographical area stretches between Northern Italy and Southern Switzerland embedding a valuable historical and natural heritage. Nevertheless, the tourism potential of the region is not fully exploited due to a fragmented political context within the geographical area that extends across different local and national jurisdictions. The final goal of the project to increase tourism attractiveness of the Insubria Region through the provision of physical infrastructure, the development and promotion of new tourism experiences, and the deployment of a standardized Information Technology infrastructure to support cross-border land management and marketing operations. Central to this paper is the preliminary design of this infrastructure that will provide tools for supporting information generating and consuming among project partners and external stakeholders. The design phase leverages exclusively Free and Open Source Software. Alongside the preliminary architecture, both use cases and user requirements are discussed together with the expected benefits deriving from the co-creation of best tourism management practices by means of open and shared software platforms.
An Environmental Monitoring System (EMS) is needed not only to prevent many natural risks such as droughts, flooding and landslides but also to provide information for a better management of water resources and crops irrigation and finally it helps to increase the reliability of weather and climatological models. In addition, a monitoring system can directly impact the economic, social and political spheres. Unfortunately, in most developing and low income countries, due to the high costs of hardware and software there is a lack of efficient monitoring systems. The aim of the 4onse project (analysis of Four times Open Non-conventional system for Sensing the Environment), funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation, is the development of a totally open solution to monitor the environment. As well as the hardware layer, a monitoring system needs a data management software usually hosted on a server structure. As a software platform which is SOS OGC compliant, istSOS is chosen to receive, manage, validate and distribute environmental data. In the following article a solution to support big data is presented to extend the istSOS capabilities. In fact, a sensors network can hardly stress a data management system because of the several concurrent users and sensors and the long time series which every weather station can easily produce. Thus, a software called istSOS-proxy is developed as a single access point over multiple instances of istSOS whose procedures are distributed to balance the total load. First results on the effectiveness of the solution are proved thanks to load testing simulations of different levels of concurrent users.
An Environmental Monitoring System (EMS) is needed not only to prevent many natural risks such as droughts, flooding and landslides but also to provide information for a better management of water resources and crops irrigation and finally it helps to increase the reliability of weather and climatological models. In addition, a monitoring system can directly impact the economic, social and political spheres. Unfortunately, in most developing and low income countries, due to the high costs of hardware and software there is a lack of efficient monitoring systems. The aim of the 4onse project (analysis of Four times Open Non-conventional system for Sensing the Environment), funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation, is the development of a totally open solution to monitor the environment. As well as the hardware layer, a monitoring system needs a data management software usually hosted on a server structure. As a software platform which is SOS OGC compliant, istSOS is chosen to receive, manage, validate and distribute environmental data. In the following article a solution to support big data is presented to extend the istSOS capabilities. In fact, a sensors network can hardly stress a data management system because of the several concurrent users and sensors and the long time series which every weather station can easily produce. Thus, a software called istSOS-proxy is developed as a single access point over multiple instances of istSOS whose procedures are distributed to balance the total load. First results on the effectiveness of the solution are proved thanks to load testing simulations of different levels of concurrent users.
