Itchy Feet: A 3D e-Tourism Environment

Authors: 
Ingo Seidel
Markus Gärtner
Michael Pöttler
Helmut Berger
Type: 
Book Contribution
Proceedings: 
Tourism Informatics: Visual Travel Recommender Systems, Social Communities, and User Interface Design
Publisher: 
IGI Global
Pages: 
209 - 242
ISBN: 
ISBN: 978-1605668185
Year: 
2009
Abstract: 
In this chapter we describe an e-Tourism environment that places emphasis on a communitydriven<br> approach to foster a lively society of travelers. It enables them to exchange travel<br> experiences, recommend tourism destinations or just catch some interesting gossip. Moreover,<br> business transactions such as booking a trip or getting assistance from professional travel agents<br> are a constituent part of this environment. All these interactions happen in an integrated, gamelike,<br> 3D Virtual World where each tourist is impersonated as an avatar. We draw a retrospective<br> on the specification, design and implementation of this e-Tourism environment and present the<br> status quo. We describe how we applied Electronic Institutions, a framework developed and<br> employed in the area of Multi-Agent Systems, to the tourism domain. Furthermore, we present<br> our approach to connect a 3D Virtual World with Electronic Institutions. Our goal is to provide a<br> test bed for assessing the acceptance of virtual environments, as a medium to overcome the nontangible<br> nature of tourism products.
TU Focus: 
Information and Communication Technology
Reference: 

I. Seidel, M. Gärtner, M. Pöttler, H. Berger, M. Dittenbach, W. Merkl:
"Itchy Feet: A 3D e-Tourism Environment";
in: "Tourism Informatics: Visual Travel Recommender Systems, Social Communities, and User Interface Design", N. Sharda (Hrg.); IGI Global, Hershey, PA 17033, USA, 2009, ISBN: 978-1605668185, S. 209 - 242.

Zusätzliche Informationen

Last changed: 
28.12.2010 14:05:34
TU Id: 
180726
Accepted: 
Accepted
Invited: 
Department Focus: 
Business Informatics
Abstract German: 
Author List: 
I. Seidel, M. Gärtner, M. Pöttler, H. Berger, M. Dittenbach, W. Merkl