Sightseeing Navigation System for Foreign Tourists in Japanese Urban Area

The present study aimed to design, develop, operate and evaluate a sightseeing navigation system in order to support foreign tourists’ efficient acquisition of sightseeing spot information in Japanese urban tourist areas, about which a variety of information is transmitted, by enabling information to be accumulated, shared, and recommended. The system was developed by integrating web geographic information systems (Web-GIS), social networking service (SNS) as well as recommendation system into a single system. The system used the non-language information such as signs, marks and pictograms in addition to English information, and displayed sightseeing spot information and conduct navigation on 2D and 3D digital maps of the Web-GIS. The system was operated for two weeks in the central part of Yokohama City in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, and the total number of users was 54. Based on the results of the web questionnaire survey, all of the specific functions are highly evaluated, and the usefulness of the system when sightseeing was excellent. From the results of the access analysis of users’ log data, it is evident that the system was mainly used before sightseeing and users confirmed their favorite sightseeing spots and made their tour planning in advance, using 2D and 3D digital maps.