Using community to create a better tourist experience
SIGHTSEE is a location based mobile website that aims to assist in creating a better and more connected tourist experience with the local businesses in Eureka Springs. SIGHTSEE provides tourists with a way to find better parking, recommends activities and places to visit according to the temperature and weather, and a chance to find out more about the many different local business owners and can better connect with them, what they do and why do the things they do.
I have always wanted to look at the other side of tourism in which the local residents are affected.
Research
Through interviews I learned that the main problems that people in town were facing were parking and the rising problems it caused, the change in seasons and not being prepared for them leading to reduced tourist visits in the cold months, and lastly most of the people I talked to talked about the time that they lacked when connecting to tourists through social media. I also had to create something that could encompass the uniqueness of the town.
Function
My design idea to tackle some of these problems is a mobile tourist site. It would mostly be geared towards the tourists but would benefit the town through visits. It would help with finding parking and connecting to the trolley system. It would allow the user to have activities to do and places to visit according to the weather. It would also allow the user to quickly gain insight on the local businesses and to create a connection with the locals through getting to know the local businesses and events.
