The iGuide application uses innovative technology to offer digital tours in isolated areas, such as archaeological sites without tour guides or areas of natural interest. The new application is currently being developed for the regions of East Macedonia and Thrace and is to be made available to users in Greek, English and Bulgarian in Spring 2015.

“The region of Thrace is a classic example where a visit to a place of cultural heritage or places of natural wonder aren’t accompanied by adequate information,” said Christodoulos Hamzas, iGuide program coordinator. “For this reason that is where we are beginning iGuide’s development. It is a system aimed at offering socially enriched digital travel services that visitors can use through their mobile phones.”

The iGuide proposal aims at enabling a socially enriched tourism mobile guide service, accessible from visitor’s personal smartphones while addressing a much wider range of sites and traditional places than existing solutions. The proposed service will allow visitors to contribute to the cultural heritage content enrichment of the visiting places by uploading user- generated media (images, audio, videos, e.t.c.) along with their personalised content about the acquired experiences. At the same time, users will be able to receive supplementary added value location- based services and recommendations than enhance their visiting experience, facilitate place-of-interest wandering and their direct interactions with local provisions.

The platform includes automatic narration, personal guided tours, offline maps, crowdsourcing and 3D representations of areas and sites.

The new iGuide application is a joint collaboration between three gi-Cluster members – specifically Mobics and Innoetics and the Athens Information Technology (AIT).