Youth Spaces and the Alpine Tundra Regions
The Nordic wilderness is unique and sensitive resource, where the important tourism industry needs to exist within limits of nature's toleration. Actors in this region have problems attracting the younger generation, and knowledge of some of the major tourist organisations is low within the younger demographic. The YOUSAT project proposes that to address this issue and to help the industry develop new destinations, tourism-related players should become more active within the new social media spaces, user-generated content, in combination with new mobile location-based services.
Starting with theories around map-based mobile services with multiple information layers where users can create and share travel stories in groups, this two-year project has engaged users and tourist organisations in order to come up with service design recommendations. This has resultet in a feature set then implemented as a prototype service on top of the mobile map-technology from one of the industry partners. In developing new interactive content the project has also tackled difficult issues such as solutions for lack of network coverage in these potentially remote areas.
Furthermore, different business models have been evaluated within the project, and will hopefully be carried on with the continued work on the prototype service.
More specifically the main project objectives have been to:
• engage user groups through participatory design methods.
• provide recommendations on how to design services directed towards the younger generation as well as services based upon user-created content
• develop new map-based services for creating, sharing and viewing experiences
• explore potential business models for reaching the younger generation
• demonstrate the possibilities with mobile technologies and web 2.0 services to create more interactive services that blends into the social spaces of the younger generation
• bringing nature-based activities, new technologies and tourism closer together
• develop an experience-sharing platform where users and providers can interact, share and innovate the destinations
• raise awareness of possibilities with new technology and services among other tourism actors
• consider local and nature interests in order to create a sustainable solution
Results
The project has had a lot of user involvement, through
- Focus groups
- Questionnaires for target groups
- Scenario study
- Tourist organization questionnaire
- Final user study/test of the developed prototype service
and has developed a prototype service and a maploader app. Also, there are market and business model reports and more ...
Under the download section you can find more material about the project such as some of the project deliverables.
Organisation
The partners of YOUSAT are:
- SICS (ICT research and implementation)
- University of Tampere (ICT studies, evaluation, and design)
- Idevio AB (Map solutions industry partner)
- Svenska Turistföreningen (Swedish tourist org)
- Den Norske Turistforening (Norwegian tourist org)
- Soumen Latu (Finnish outdoor org)
- Þróunarfélag Auturlands (Icelandish development centre)
YOUSAT is funded by the Nordic Innovation Centre under their Tourism programme together with six other projects.
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