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GeoGuides, Urban Geotourism Offer Powered by Mobile Application Technology

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Abstract

Scientific research about geological and geomorphological heritage recently proved to be the base of new opportunities for tourism. The peculiar case of urban landscape analysis offers new frontiers to the traditional urban cultural tourism. The tourism offer based on natural aspects of urban areas is described in this paper thanks to three examples of urban geotourism tools: GeoGuide Lausanne, TOURinSTONES and GeoGuide Rome mobile applications. Each case focuses on the transfer of geoscientific knowledge from scientific research to the “tourist” content, with the innovative support of the mobile application technology. The apps contribute to the promotion of the links between cultural and geological heritages, which is the goal of urban geotourism: to convey the message that substrate profoundly influences the culture that is established on it. The mobile application technology has many strengths for interpretation, e.g. by overlaying images or adding sounds and videos, which allow the visitors to discover landforms now covered by buildings and infrastructures; it has also technical strengths, such as looking for additional information and organizing the city visit at home or to reexperience it after the trip. The apps do not have any impact on the field; they are concise, easy to read, interactive and funny. The public understanding of science is very important; it helps enhancing the role of the researchers and the impact of their work on the society and the daily lives of citizens. In this context, GeoGuide apps are useful to transfer knowledge and make it usable to people.

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Acknowledgements

The Faculty of Geosciences and Environment of the University of Lausanne is thanked for financial support provided for the technical and methodological development of the first version of the GeoGuide application. The Institute of Geography and Sustainability is thanked for providing technical support and working places for the researchers of Rome and Turin. Géraldine Regolini and Simon Martin (Relief company) are acknowledged for their participation to the methodological development of the first version of the GeoGuide Lausanne.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Earth Sciences Department, Sapienza University of Rome, P.zzle A. Moro 5, 00185, Rome, Italy

    Alessia Pica & Maurizio Del Monte

  2. Institute of Geography and Sustainability, University of Lausanne, Geopolis, 1015, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Emmanuel Reynard, Lucien Grangier & Christian Kaiser

  3. Natural Sciences Museum of Turin, Via Giolitti 36, 10123, Turin, Italy

    Luca Ghiraldi

  4. Earth Sciences Department, University of Turin, Via Valperga Caluso, 35, Turin, Italy

    Luigi Perotti

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  1. Alessia Pica
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  2. Emmanuel Reynard
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  3. Lucien Grangier
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Correspondence to Alessia Pica.

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Pica, A., Reynard, E., Grangier, L. et al. GeoGuides, Urban Geotourism Offer Powered by Mobile Application Technology. Geoheritage 10, 311–326 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12371-017-0237-0

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