A marketplace for mobile users in travel tourism. Implementation of a context aware prototype ...

29.06.2005

Abstract:
Tourists need information about places to visit, where to eat, activities, and so on. This information is typically found in guidebooks and on the Internet, requiring the tourist to actively search for relevant information. Instead, this information can be available on an electronic marketplace where it is personalized to suit each tourist. This marketplace is accessed using mobile phones. The providers of tourist services can here reach interested tourists with information, in addition to offering functionality like for example reserving restaurant tables or buying tickets. The marketplace becomes a gateway for tourists to the providers of tourist services.

This thesis investigates how such a marketplace can be created based on software agents. Furthermore, this marketplace is context-aware, utilizing information about each tourist's location, personal preferences and currently available wireless network bandwidth, to find and adapt relevant information provided by the tourist service providers.

A prototype of a marketplace is created as part of this thesis. This prototype is context-aware and implemented using ideas from software agency.