Contrasting object-relational and RDF modelling in a Tourist Information System

Abstract

Advanced tourist information systems should deliver more than weakly-related static information about sights. Instead, semantically-rich information about sights (e.g., groups of sights with same characteristics) should be delivered to the mobile users. Furthermore, tourists should not be overwhelmed by a stream of superfluous data unrelated to their interest and location. Personalization of the information delivery to each traveller, together with his or her travel history, is therefore crucial. In this paper, we describe the lessons learned from developing the kernel of an advanced tourist information provider using a semantic network of sight-related information and considering the travellers' interest and travel route. The system is a combination of event notification services (publish/subscribe) and location-based services (LBS). For modelling all relevant data, two approaches are compared: a RDF-based model and an object-relational model.