Digital Agenda Funding

DIGITAL AGENDA PROJECTS

Tourism Guide for Northern Periphery

Go Back

TG4NP = Tourism Guide for Northern Periphery
Developing smart phone services for visitors to Europe's Cool North

Project Status:

Completed

Project Leader:

Caitriona Strain

Funding Programme:

Northern Periphery (INTERREG 4B)

Project Budget:

€2,261,236

Start Date:

Jun, 2010

Finish Date:

Sep, 2013

Project Website:

www.tg4np.com

The aim of the project is to:

Deploy mobile smart phone digital services for use by visitors to Europe's Northern areas to support the continued development of the tourism industry, particularly in cultural and natural heritage destinations.

Specific objectives are to:

Establish a number of new smart phone visitor information services that enhance the visitor's experience in rural and remote areas.
Explore new digitally-mediated approaches to guide tourists through the different stages of their visit

Region	Organisation / Role
Donegal Ireland	ERNACT Developingan integrated tourism promotion service for part of the North West crossborder region
Greenland Greenland	Greenland Tourism and Business Council Developing a mobile/web system to provide general visitor and walking tour services
Iceland Iceland	Bifrost University Developing a mobile service to encourage visitors to shop in the local area
Lapland Finland	Kemi-Tornio University of Applied Sciences Developing a system for supporting the ski business in an area or region
Luleå Sweden	Luleå University of Technology Developing a mobile guided tour service for visitors to a world heritage site in the Lulea area
North Karelia Finland	Karelia University of Applied Sciences Implementing of Services
North Karelia Finland	Regional Council of North Karelia Developing a gaming based mobile system use in an outdoor park.
Northern Ireland United Kingdom	University of Ulster Developing a mobile augmented reality service to be used to help visitors interpret historical sites
Sogn og Fjordane Norway	Western Norway Research Institute (WNRI) Developing a mobile system use for supporting walking visitors in the area
West Region Ireland	Western Regional Authority Developing a mobile system for walkers for ceratin trails in Irish West region

Internationally sustainable, transferable and exploitable mobile tourism services based on participatory planning, which can be combined with modernizing technology.
Developing and upgrading technology used by tourism companies, inhabitants and users from sparsely populated areas.

The ERNACT regions focus on adapting and transferring services, approaches or digital knowhow between regions. Please examine the following table to see a list of specific items transferred over the past few years

Region	Organisation / Service
Skellefteå	Skellefteå Municipality Tourist Guide in Skellefteå	View
Greenland	Greenland Tourism and Business Council Visit Greenland	View
Sogn og Fjordane	Western Norway Research Institute (WNRI) Tourim in Sogn og Fjordane (Norway)	View
Lapland	Kemi-Tornio University of Applied Sciences Tourist Guide in Kemi-Tornio - Kemi-Tornio University of Applied Sciences	View
North Karelia	Regional Council of North Karelia Tourist Guide in North Karelia (Finland)	View
Galway County	Galway County Council The Hymany Way - East Galway	View
Donegal	ERNACT Tourist Guide in Donegal	View
Northern Ireland	University of Ulster Tourist Guide in Northen Ireland	View
Iceland	Bifrost University Mobile Tourism App - Iceland	View
Luleå	Luleå University of Technology Tourist Guide in Luleå	View

Location based and personalised services are at the core of the TG4NP project which developed and implemented tourism-related smart phone services.

Mobile technology has become an everyday tool for majority of people and advanced mobile networks have become available also in the most rural areas. Mobile phones are growingly used for retrieving information and experiences, and GPS satellite navigation has become a common feature in modern mobile phones. This development has created an excellent opportunity for rural tourism industry to guide and communicate with visitors in a whole new way.