Dynamically generated content enriched vector tourist maps for the Internet - an intelligent navigation and data access technique

With the World Wide Web, people have access to more tourism information than ever before. Accessing information on the Internet has become less a question of determining whether the information is out there but rather in what form, and how to find it. However, too much information from too many sources has caused an information overload. Tourists have problems to find what they are looking for, especially in reference to the geographic position of the tourism object and its surroundings. In most cases it is not satisfying to find a nice hotel without reference to restaurants, sights or event locations located nearby. The approach presented in this doctoral thesis starts from the user needs, to present non-geographic objects like tourism objects in geographic context on interactive tourist maps in SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) the upcoming standard for two dimensional vector graphics in the Web. Maps are a suitable medium for information presentation, because they cope with the two-dimensional capabilities of human vision and present the information in a compact and easy to read way. The approach gives a new presentation approach based on tourist maps, assisted with powerful geographic search facilities to support tourists in finding the optimal location to stay or to spend their holidays. As it is a visualization approach, the data itself (geographic data and tourism data) remains separated, this permits the representation of the most up-to-date data (e.g.: availability of hotels). Therefore maps turn from static information presentation to interactive, accurate information access, a starting point for further navigation and online reservation.