IEEE Consumer Electronics Magazine - May 2018 - 35

mining and monitoring
The tourism ministry and government authorities can use data
mining and monitoring mechanisms to make the system effective [12]-[14]. Tourism mobility, volunteer availability, and
the patterns of volunteer involvement and emergency help
requests, among others, can be mined and monitored. Based
on the output of the mining and monitoring process, adaptive
steps can be taken to improve the system.

propoSed Framework For touriStS'
independent mobility
This article presents a framework for tourists' independent
mobility called iTour. The iTour platform is driven by a set of
novel ideas, taking into account all stakeholders' requirements and needs. It combines IoT techniques and tools to use
the services and data available. It also allows easy, faithful
coordination and cooperation of available resources and utilizes information exchange to make tourist life easy. The possible resources that can contribute to the tourism ecosystem
have also been identified.

resourCes and their involvement
The iTour resources and their involvement are shown in Figure 4. In the tourism independent mobility framework, most
of the resources that are needed are preexisting. If anyone
wants to help tourists, there is a trust gap bridged between
tourists and local volunteers to reduce the fear of getting
trapped by dishonest people. Even if there is trust, in some
cases, there is insufficient information or equipment for connection and cooperation. Therefore, the aim of the framework
is to identify such resources and provide them with a suitable
platform using IoT solutions like iTour. iTour is an easy way
to coordinate and cooperate in the tourism ecosystem with
some level of authentication.
IoT solutions can also be used to analyze the functioning
of the system to provide proper feedback from time to time to
make it adaptive. Real-time monitoring of the system by
iTour can help in crisis situations and improve effectiveness
of the system as well. The available
resources that contribute to iTour are
Services:
broadly classified as human resources
Ticket Booking,
and nonhuman resources.
Taxis,

Human ResouRces
Based on interactions, the people contributing to the improvement of the tourism management system and promoting
the program can be identified. The set of
people involved in the tourist management system to help tourists are categorized as human resources. Such a
collection of stakeholders includes public employees, e.g., officials from the
home, tourism, transportation, and police
departments; the PCR van in charge; the
post office; and the bank. It also includes

Restaurants,
Banking

The IoT can be used for
convenience and flexibility in
the tourism domain, and it can
integrate various tourist services.
private partners, such as hotel managers, vehicle drivers, socializing venue managers, and cultural event managers. Volunteers,
e.g., on-road tourist-helping volunteers, interpreters, and those in
cultural exchange centers, are also a part of this group.

nonHuman ResouRces
In the tourism management system, both human resources and
nonhuman resources should be coordinated. These nonhuman
resources need to be connected to iTour to make the lives of
tourists and the tourist support team more comfortable. The
iTour framework includes the integration of IoT solutions, i.e.,
sensors, global positioning systems (GPSs), WSNs, smart
devices, smart maps, the Internet, and different types of services. The IoT enables these objects to connect and exchange data
using wireless protocols.

seRvIces
iTour provides different types of services through smart devices, including booking a hotel; reserving a taxi; searching for
essential services, e.g., banking, guides, and restaurants.
Moreover, smart devices support user authentication and
security. They also provide services in emergency situations,
i.e., theft, road rage, and medical emergencies.

worKing prinCiples
Each human actor involved in iTour is provided a uniquely
identified smart device. The technology has the provision for
authentication with the help of fingerprint sensors. With this
device, the actor can easily communicate with iTour and other

Enabling Technologies:
WSNs, LAN,
WAN

iTour Framework
Smart Device

(Smart Technologies)
Human Resources:
Tourists, Police,
Volunteers, Officials

Emergency Help:
Ambulance, PCR,
Officials

Figure 4. The iTour resources and their involvement through the IoT.

MAy 2018

IEEE Consumer Electronics Magazine

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Consumer Electronics Magazine - May 2018