Archived page!
About   |   Contact   |   Sitemap   |   Feedback

SMART Multilingual Guide in Bethlehem, By Sina Institute

English | عربي

 iphone-app  photo01

Sina Institute at Birzeit University, with the Centre for Cultural Heritage Preservation (CCHP) and University of Trento from Italy through its spin-off company OKKAM s.r.l, have deployed an innovative and pioneering electronic tourist guide for heritage sites in Bethlehem, using QR technologies. The initiative is part of the EU FP7 funded SIERA project.

The goal of the initiative is to enhance the experience of Palestine’s visitors and valorize the cultural heritage of Bethlehem City, through an innovative use of smartphones and tablets.

While walking in the old city, tourists can scan a QR code with smartphones and automatically listen to an audio guidance in their own language, as well as watch video and read further description, about a certain heritage site.

The initiative targeted 8 important locations of cultural and heritage significance in the city, including the Church of Nativity, Manger Square, and Star Street, among other locations.

Mrs. Nada Atrash, the Head of the Research and Training Unit at CCHP, indicated that the initiative stands as an innovative and simple facility to provide and spread information and guidance to the visitors of the city, refuting some parts of the Israeli propaganda that strives to damage the Palestinian history and culture. Mrs. Atrash indicated that the system has been used by hundreds of tourists already, despite its young age, where the free internet connection provided by Hadara ISP facilitated the adoption of the system.

The initiative has also been praised by Dr Hamdan Taha, the deputy minister of the Palestinian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities. Dr Taha expressed the ministry’s interest at the initiative, and hoped to extend its coverage to span the different touristic places in Palestine. Dr Taha also indicated that the initiative goes along the ministry’s plans to digitize and document the Palestinian narration through modern technologies, which should enrich the tourism industry in Palestine.

Dr Mustafa Jarrar, the director of Sina Institute at Birzeit University, stated that the QR scanning technologies has already been deployed at several domains. However, utilizing such technology within a multilingual and multimedia touristic guidance system is considered pioneering worldwide. Dr Jarrar illustrated that the initiative comes about as a result of the cooperation with Trento University in Italy and OKKAM s.r.l, which also included the Arabization of the OKKAM named entities system and enriching it with new Arabic content. Dr Jarrar concluded by stating that the initiative is still at its early stages, and hoped to extend the initiative for the remaining Palestinian sites.

After deploying the system in Bethlehem, Dr Paolo Bouquet, the professor at Trento University and the president of its spin-off company OKKAM s.r.l, expressed his contentment for the innovative and pioneering utilization of OKKAM’s platform within the tourism sector, and in Palestine in particular. Dr Bouquet explained that the system allows for dynamic content editing and modification, without having to replace the generated code. Moreover, the system doesn’t require any special software, where it can be used with any QR reader applications.

It is worth noting that, the developed system, in cooperation with OKKAM’s dynamic ObjectLinks framework, allows for bundling several media data and content types, accessible through a single QR code. The developed framework allows for dynamic content editing, which provides for efficient content generation and enhanced monitoring and statistics capabilities. The system was praised by the local and international tourists visiting Bethlehem, quoting that the new system was simple and easy to navigate, while providing very rich and multilingual content.

The initiative is part of the SIERA project at Sina Institute, which aims to  promote research cooperation with scientists around the world in the fields of Multilingual and Multicultural knowledge sharing technologies. The initiative comes about as a result of this international cooperation in the domain of knowledge sharing, which also aims at promoting Bethlehem as a center of international cultural and heritage significance.

Brochure:

 QRNet-Brochure-p1 QRNet-Brochure-p2

 2014-06-30 18.42.02 2014-06-30 18.50.10 2014-06-30 19.37.14 2014-06-30 19.31.26-2
 IMG_1179.JPG IMG_1182.jpg IMG_1183.jpg IMG_1186.jpg
 IMG_1187.jpg IMG_1188.jpg IMG_1189.jpg IMG_1190.jpg
 IMG_1191.jpg IMG_1192.jpg IMG_1193.jpg IMG_1194.jpg
 IMG_1195.jpg IMG_1196.jpg IMG_1197.jpg IMG_1182.jpg

In the media:

Nisaa FM
18409_455425201223376_1858071468_n  
Comment on and Like this post!
bzuLogo  
SMART Multilingual Tourist Guide Deployed in Bethlehem   (Archive)
بيرزيت تطوّر دليل سياحي آلي لأهم المواقع في بيت لحم  (Archive) (Facebook)
fajerLogo  
بيرزيت تطوّر دليلا سياحيا آليا لأهم المواقع في بيت لحم (Archive)
aeleyaLogo  
بيرزيت تطوّر دليل سياحي آلي لأهم المواقع في بيت لحم (Archive)
AlQuds بيرزيت تطوّر دليلا سياحيا آليا لأهم المواقع في بيت لحم (Archive) صحيفة القدس صفحة 22
 Capture5  بيرزيت تطوّر دليلا سياحيا آليا لأهم المواقع في بيت لحم   صفحة 6
Raya FM logo ‘بيرزيت’ تطوّر دليلا سياحيا آليا لأهم المواقع في بيت لحم (Archive)
maan_logo_med_q بيرزيت تطوّر دليلا سياحيا آليا لأهم المواقع في بيت لحم (Archive)
Sheraa بيرزيت تطوّر دليل سياحي آلي لأهم المواقع في بيت لحم (Archive)
stud بيرزيت تطوّر دليل سياحي آلي لأهم المواقع في بيت لحم (Archive)
wafa بيرزيت تطوّر دليلا سياحيا آليا لأهم المواقع في بيت لحم (Archive)
logo بالتعاون مع مركز حفظ التراث في مدينة المهد وجامعة «تورينتو» بإيطاليا
معهد ابن سينا في «بيرزيت» يطور دليلا سياحيا آليا لأهم المواقع في بيت لحم
(Archive)
logo بيرزيت تطوّر دليلا سياحيا آليا لأهم المواقع في بيت لحم (Archive)
logo بیرزيت تطوّر دلیلاسیاحیا آلیالأھمالمواقع في بیت لحم (Archive)
logo بيرزيت تطوّر دليلاً سياحياً آلياً لأهم المواقع في بيت لحم (Archive)
logo بیرزیت تطّور دلیل سیاحي آلي لأھم المواقع في بیت لحم (Archive)
Zadlogo  بيرزيت تطوّر دليلا سياحيا آليا لأهم المواقع في بيت لحم (Archive)

Zadlogo  Turismo: a Betlemme con guida elettronica creata in Trentino (Archive)

Bethlehem electronic tourist guide created in Trentino (Archive)

Turismo: a Betlemme adesso c’è guida elettronica da Trentino (Archive)

Zadlogo  A Betlemme con l’audioguida (del Trentino) (Archive)

Zadlogo  A Betlemme guida elettronica da Trentino (Archive)

Zadlogo  Visitare Betlemme: dall’ateneo di Trento la guida che usa QRcode

Zadlogo  Betlemme con Tablet e Smartphone, le visite elettroniche di Unitn (Archive)

Zadlogo  Visitare Betlemme con tablet e smartphone (Archive)

Zadlogo  Betlemme tecnologica

Zadlogo  Alla scoperta di Betlemme direttamente con lo smartphone. Ecco come si fa (Archive)

Zadlogo  Visitare Betlemme: dall’ateneo di Trento la guida che usa QRcode (Archive)

Zadlogo  Visitare Betlemme è più facile per chi ha uno smartphone (Archive)

Zadlogo  Un progetto trentino per semplificare il turismo a Betlemme (Archive)

Zadlogo  Palestina su Ipad e guida elettronica (Archive)

Zadlogo  Visitare Betlemme con tablet e Smartphone (Archive)

Secondary References:

Zadlogo  Visitare Betlemme: dall’ateneo di Trento la guida che usa QRcode – macitynet.it (Archive)

Zadlogo  Visitare Betlemme: dall’ateneo di Trento la guida che usa QRcode (Archive)

Zadlogo  Visitare Betlemme: dall’ateneo di Trento la guida che usa QRcode (Archive)

Zadlogo  Visitare Betlemme: dall’ateneo di Trento la guida che usa QRcode

Zadlogo  Visitare Betlemme: dall’ateneo di Trento la guida che usa QRcode (Archive)

Zadlogo  A Betlemme guida elettronica (Archive)

Zadlogo  Visitare Betlemme: dall’ateneo di Trento la guida che usa QRcode (Archive)

Zadlogo  Bethlehem electronic tourist guide created in Trentino

Zadlogo  Visitare Betlemme: dall’ateneo di Trento la guida che usa QRcode

 

 


No comments yet.

Leave a Reply