Open source software for tourism promotion: Lake Poli School (LaPS) education project

Management of geospatial data has become crucial in a broad range of new and non traditional disciplines. Here we investigate the application of open source geospatial software in the contexts of tourism and cultural heritage, and education. In our case master level students of environmental science, management science, and computer engineering work in groups to develop real projects proposed by real organizations with the assistance of junior and senior academics. The case study presented here tackled the issue of promoting tourism (particularly slow tourism) in the wonderful nature region located at the border between Italy and Switzerland. The project was carried out in collaboration with stakeholders, and it included a comprehensive managerial analysis and development of practical tools. After data collection, two web-based systems, one for desktop and the other for mobile devices, were developed using open source software allowing browsing and querying a rich set of tourism information. Both platforms were successfully tested with stakeholders. The study demonstrates the applicability of open source software not only for tourism promotion but also for educational purposes.