EDSI-Tech Sàrl, a company based at the EPFL Innovation Park and mandated by the Lake Geneva Region, is launching its new mobile application Vaud:Guide today. Intuitive and free, it provides the visitors of the Vaud region with customised recommendations about places and activities they could visit to make their stay even more enjoyable.
Centred on a map, the application presents the main points of interest of the region and has the unique ability to offer customised recommendations. A visitor who enjoys cultural events but doesn’t like sport will be shown relevant activities and events. The recommendations are analysed and provide valuable information to the region’s tourism offices so they can better understand their visitors’ preferences to target their promotional offers according to the trends.
State-of-the-art technology from the EPFL
Vaud:Guide is based on the tourism information and statistics system MyCity, which was designed and developed by EDSI-Tech in association with the M.E.D.I.A laboratory of the EPFL. The system integrates machine learning and data mining algorithms, which learn from the behaviour of the users and take many environmental factors into account to make relevant recommendations and allow visitors to make the most of their stay. Patents were filled to protect the innovations that it contains and a CTI (Federal Commission for Technologies and Innovation) research project is on-going to develop future functionalities.
Cooperation with the Lake Geneva Region
Originating from the desire to put current technologies at the disposal of the tourism industry and to offer an innovative mobile guide with high value added, MyCity is the result of a two-year research and development process. Its development was done in cooperation with tourism stakeholders such as the Les Diablerets tourism office and the EPFL campus to ensure that the application meets the tourism offices and the users’ needs. This approach was very appealing to the Lake Geneva Region, which has contributed to its constant evolution and to its large-scale usage. This reference will be extremely valuable for the implementation of the MyCity system in Switzerland and in foreign countries.
To download Vaud:Guide application for iPhone and Android smartphones, please visit http://appmobile.region-du-leman.ch/
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