Mobile Interactive Visitor Information Service

MIVIS: Mobile Interactive Visitor Information Service

Delivering the right information to the right place at the right time

MIVIS will create 'points of relevance' based on:

• Heritage & Culture
• Recreation, Leisure and Adventure
• Food and Wine
• Natural Environment - Flora/Fauna
• Industry – wine makers, craftsman, artist
• Aids – maps – weather – track information

MIVIS is truly interactive where it

• Creates a platform where people can tell their story consistent to the viewer's geographic location.
  
• Enables us all to bring our stories alive in an environment where the story teller may be a child, grandparent, authority or an observer to an event.
  
• Develops and grows a digital resource that can be accessed on request in 'real time'.

MIVIS content is developed along strands

• Regional Tourism Initiatives & Visitor Information Centres.
• Tourism Trails. E.g. Classic Wine Trial, Heritage.
  
• DOC Sites
  
• Conservation Educational Centres (as illustrative of LEOTC (learning outside of the classroom strategy)
  
• Local commercial groups. E.g. Food HB (Related to main regional initiatives).
  
• Archivist's custodians of content. E.g. Libraries and Museums
  
• Tourism Operators.
  
• Site Operators. E.g. A winery
  
• Community Groups.

While not automatically location-sensitive (in terms of using A-GPS or WiFi hotspots to triangulate a user's location), MIVIS uses cameraphones & semacodes to deliver added content about a particular POI (point of interest) to a traveller, in their native language if required. I don't think semacodes are mentioned in the website itself, but was included in a powerpoint presentation of the project which was forwarded to me (thanks, Ross!).

Since it's based in a nature reserve, it reminds me a lot of the WebPark Project, but the use of semacodes is more reminiscent of a near near future post from April about eRuv, 'a street history in semacode' (also refer back to Russell Buckley's related post).

From the MIVIS project blurb, it sounds like they understand the major issues for location-based tourism applications (need to be easy to use, instant, collaborative, etc), but this is the sort of thing that really needs a critical mass of users to really take off... I wonder how it'll go?