Applications of GIS in Tourism

Applications of GIS in Tourism

GIS applications in the field of tourism goes back several years. Tourists can now rely on maps and other GIS related material to find their way around the world. Below are some of the applications of GIS in tourism.

1. Personality Atlas:

Assigning personality stereotypes to countries around the world based on a sample size of global population’s perspectives.

2. Tourist Map

Plotting out landmarks in tourist maps. GIS has also been instrumental in plotting out maps for various locations across the globe. This way, tourists are able to find their way into various locations.

3. Sunrise and Sunset

Finding the perfect sunrise and sunset during at any given location. Using GIS, tourists are able to locate the perfect sunrise and sunset and capture the best moments using this technology.

4. Subway Map

Simplifying maps for the reader to better understand such as the lines of a subway map in high contrasting colors.

5. Linear Referencing

Using linear referencing along shorelines to track volumes of organic debris.

6. Off-Beaten Tracks

Finding the off-beaten track for backpackers and marking its position with 3 words.


7. Safe Travel

Advising travelers where unsafe location are on a map.

8. Tourism Dollars

Tracking the exports of purchased goods and services using desire lines.

9. Sustainable Tourism Planning

Identifying conflicting interests from tourism and solving issues by examining suitable locations for proposed developments.

10. Hotel Search

Searching geographically for five star hotels using a circle radius.

11. Horizon Blockage

Calculating the horizon blocking line in all directions from a given observation point with gvSIG’s Horizon Blockage.

12. Travel Mode Detection

Detecting travel mode (walk, car, bus, subway and commuter rail) from a multi-modal transportation network using GIS and GPS in New York City.

13. Finding Islands

Using satellite to find uninhabited islands around the world – Landsat found Landsat Island near the coast of Canada.

14. Time Zones

Representing time zones around the world. GIS can also be used to represent time zones across all areas in the world. Tourists can then use this information to know what time it is wherever they are going.

15. Eco-Tourism Site Selection

Gauging environmental impacts for sustainable eco-tourism sites. GIS can also help in gauging the impact of environmental occurrences.

16. Virtual Travel

Seeing your destination before physically being there. Through virtual travel, tourists are also able to view their destination and see how it looks before actually getting to the destination.

17. Geo-tagging

Discover places with 360 panoramic camera views.

18. Highway Planning

Constructing viewpoints with multiple layers like ecology, topography and cultural features for a three-dimensional visual highway.

19. Virtual Arctic

Exploring the Arctic in Google Street View without getting out of your chair.

20. 3D Synthetic Scene

Overlaying synthetic scenes over real scene.

21. Yellowstone

Putting all the pieces together in a GIS database at Yellowstone National Park including its geologic past, geyser recharge and seismic activity.

22. Trip Planning

Adventuring around for your next road trip with pit stops and offbeat using suggested sites.

23. Observer Points

Calculating visibility through multiple observer points.

24. Historic Street View

Time-travelling in the past to see just how much a location has changed over time with historic street view.

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