JP5959456B2 - Location information collection system and method for improving CS in travel industry - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a system and method for collecting location information. More specifically, the present invention relates to a system and method for collecting information on tourist routes actually adopted by tourists.

  When traveling, there are cases where the sightseeing spots to be visited are determined in advance, or where the destination is visited. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-218643 discloses a system for proposing sightseeing route candidates in advance. In this system, an operator first inputs a travel destination and a traveler's personal information to an in-vehicle terminal device. The travel plan output device searches the database to extract a travel plan that matches the given destination and the human information. In the case where there are a plurality of suitable travel plans, a plurality of suitable travel plans that have been adopted a large number or a small number in the past are preferentially presented to the operator.

  Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-46907 discloses means for associating position information with personal information. Specifically, personal information is obtained via an insurance company. On the other hand, as for the position information, a device with a GPS function is attached to the object, and the monitoring company receives the position information. In addition, the monitoring company receives personal information from the insurance company and matches the position information with the personal information.

JP-A-9-218643 JP 2008-46907 A

  In order to revitalize the tourism industry, it is important to increase the satisfaction of tourists and increase the number of repeaters. For this reason, the data collection of tourists is very important. In particular, information on what tourists have visited is very important. It would be even more useful if it could be collected along with the tourist profile, not just this information.

  However, when a method such as Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-46907 is used, there is a need for a tourist to carry a device with a GPS function in order to acquire position information. In recent years, devices with GPS functions (such as mobile phones and smartphones) are becoming popular, but some tourists may not have such devices at all. Even if such a device is provided, there are many users who regularly turn off the GPS function for reasons such as battery consumption. Therefore, in the method as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-46907, tourists are forced to take the trouble of turning on the GPS function of their own devices.

  Furthermore, even when a tourist route is proposed to a tourist, it is desirable that a route that a past tourist actually took can be proposed. In the method disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-218643, the proposed sightseeing route is extracted based on the number of times it is adopted, but what is disclosed here is the fact that it was adopted as a travel plan to the last. However, it is another question whether tourists have taken the route as planned, which is actually adopted (abrupt local changes are often possible).

  In view of the above circumstances, the present invention provides a method or system for collecting information on positional information (tourist route) that a tourist has passed through a tourist spot without bothering the tourist with special trouble. One purpose.

  Furthermore, a second object of the present invention is to provide a method or system that allows tourists to accumulate sightseeing routes actually used as data and to make sightseeing route proposals based on the data. .

  In addition, the third object of the present invention is to find a tourist route that is popular with tourists that is not noticeable from the viewpoint of the local community engaged in the tourism industry (that is, for local people). Things that are not unusual are rare and fresh for tourists and can be a powerful tourist spot).

In one aspect, the present invention is a method or system specified as follows.
(1) A method for acquiring tourist location information,
The first information processing device generates identification information for identifying a tourist and for recording on an article carried by the tourist;
A step in which the second information processing apparatus acquires the identification information from the first information processing apparatus via a network (wherein at least one second information processing apparatus is provided in an accommodation facility); Device),
-Storing information relating to tourists in the second information processing device as the first set information together with the identification information;
The second information processing apparatus uploads the first set information to the first information processing apparatus via a network;
A step in which a third information processing device reads the identification information presented when the tourist visits each tourist destination (here, at least one third information processing device is provided in each tourist destination) ),
The third information processing apparatus stores information representing the position and time at which the reading is performed, together with the identification information, as second set information;
The third information processing device uploads the second set information to the first information processing device via the network;
The third set information in which the information related to the tourist included in the first set information and the information indicating the position and time included in the second set information are associated with each other using the identification information. The step of creating by the third information processing apparatus.

In one aspect, the present invention is the following method.
(2) The method according to (1) above, further comprising the following steps:
The third information processing apparatus extracting at least one piece of data having specific identification information from the third set information;
The third information processing apparatus sorts the data based on time information included in the record;
The third information processing apparatus extracts location information from the sorted data and creates sightseeing route information; and
The third information processing apparatus uses the identification information to combine the sightseeing route information with the first set information to create fourth set information.

(3) The method according to (2) above, including the step of utilizing the fourth set information for data mining.

(4) The method according to any one of (1) to (3) above, wherein the article carried by the tourist is an article having no electrical or magnetic storage means.

(5) The method according to (4) above, wherein the article carried by the tourist is one of paper, accessories, and a key ring.

(6) The method according to any one of (1) to (5) above, wherein the information relating to the tourist is at least one of name, address, date of birth, nationality, gender, number of persons acting A method that is information containing.

(7) The method according to any one of (1) to (5) above, wherein the information relating to the tourist is at least one of name, address, date of birth, nationality, gender, number of persons acting Including information,
Using the third set information and / or the fourth set information, the tourist route is classified according to the nationality, address, age, gender, number of people of the tourist, and the tourist route followed by the past tourist. A method further comprising performing a process of creating statistical information.

(8) A method for proposing a sightseeing route, comprising the following steps:
Obtaining the statistical information described in (7) above;
A step of setting information on any one of the age group, nationality, gender, and number of people involved as a search condition,
Using the search condition and the statistical information, extracting a tourist route corresponding to the search condition in descending order;
Presenting the extracted sightseeing route;

  A system comprising means for executing the steps described in (1) to (8) above.

In this invention which concerns on one side, the information which concerns on a tourist is recorded using a 2nd information processing apparatus. The second information processing apparatus is an apparatus provided to the accommodation facility. Moreover, in an accommodation facility, when checking in, the name, address, etc. are usually input by the guest (tourist). In other words, Come to take to tourists, does not take more to say at all the extra time and effort to collect information relating to the tourists. All you have to do is do the same work as before, such as filling in your lodging book, etc., and just have that information used for other purposes.

  Further, the third information processing apparatus reads identification information for identifying tourists at each tourist spot, and simultaneously records the location and time at which the information was read. This makes it possible to collect information on places and times visited by tourists. Moreover, it is not necessary for tourists to carry devices such as GPS terminals.

  In the present invention according to one aspect, an operation of extracting records regarding specific identification information and rearranging them in time series is performed. As a result, information having an organic connection such as a sightseeing route can be generated from fragmentary information on when and where a place has been visited.

  Such tourist route data can be classified by any of the nationality, address, age, gender, and number of people of the tourists, and statistical information on the tourist routes followed by tourists in the past can be created. Thereby, the tendency according to the said category can be investigated. Such statistical information is based on records of actual visits by tourists. As described above, since a special device such as GPS is not required, data can be collected from more tourists (that is, the population becomes larger). Therefore, the reliability as statistical information is high. Also, although not recognized locally, it will be possible to explore popular tourist spots from outside tourists.

  In addition, a specific popular sightseeing route can be extracted by performing a search from these highly reliable statistical information using any one of age group, nationality, gender, and number of people as a search condition. Then, the extracted sightseeing route can be presented as a recommended sightseeing route.

It is a hardware configuration used in the present invention according to an embodiment. It is a system configuration figure used by the present invention concerning one embodiment. It is the data constructed | assembled with the method of this invention which concerns on one Embodiment. It is the data constructed | assembled with the method of this invention which concerns on one Embodiment. It is the data constructed | assembled with the method of this invention which concerns on one Embodiment.

  Hereinafter, specific modes for carrying out the present invention will be described in detail. The description of the form is illustrative and not limiting of the invention.

1. Hardware (Information Processing Device) Configuration When implementing the present invention, no special device is required. Information processing devices normally used in this field are sufficient (for example, mainframes, servers, personal computers, etc.). Specifically, as shown in FIG. 1, a processing unit (eg, CPU), a storage unit (eg, memory, HDD, etc.), an input unit (eg, keyboard, mouse, barcode reader, RFID reader, camera, etc.), Any device provided with an output unit (for example, a display device (display, etc.)) may be used. In addition, it is preferable to provide a network module as long as it uses a network such as the Internet or a LAN.

2. System Configuration The hardware can be installed at a predetermined place in a sightseeing area. The hardware can be installed according to at least three types of roles.

  Specifically, the hardware having the first role is not particularly limited as an owner or a use authority. For example, there are companies that provide tourism services, tourism associations, NPOs, chambers of commerce, hotel inn associations, restaurant associations, and companies that have chain operations. In addition, the first hardware need not be actually installed in the offices of these organizations, and may use a service provided by an external organization such as a rental server.

  The second hardware is installed in accommodation facilities such as inns and hotels. As will be described later, the second hardware exchanges information with the first hardware via the network.

  The third hardware can be installed at a sightseeing spot (for example, a store, a restaurant, a ticket office at an entrance). As will be described later, the second hardware exchanges information with the first hardware via the network.

  The network may be a known network such as the Internet, a private network, or a virtual private network (VPN).

3. First Embodiment (3-1) Check-in When a tourist arrives at an accommodation facility where he / she stays, he / she normally performs check-in. At this time, the tourist always enters various information (personal information, etc.) relating to the tourist himself / herself in the accommodation book or the like. Specific examples of personal information include, but are not limited to, various items such as nationality, address, name, gender, date of birth, and occupation. In addition to personal information, information that may be entered includes the number of people who act together (one person, friends, couple, family, etc.).

(3-2) Assignment of identification information (ID) An accommodation facility that accepts a tourist check-in can include the second hardware described above. The hardware is connected to the network described above. The accommodation facility performs processing for obtaining identification information to be given to the tourist who has checked in.

  The means for generating the identification information can be performed by a method known in the art. For example, a code may be generated by connecting to a database server or the like to acquire a sequence. Alternatively, an arbitrary identification code may be generated using an algorithm for generating a random code. In any method, it is important to generate unique identification information so that it does not overlap with identification codes generated in the past.

  The step of generating the identification information may be performed by the first hardware described above. For example, it may be executed by a server or the like that is owned or used by a tourism association in a tourism area. In any case, in this case, the first hardware includes the identification information generation module. Then, the second hardware provided in the accommodation facility can make a request for issuing identification information to the first hardware via the network. In response, the first hardware can send identification information to the second hardware via the network.

  The acquired identification information can be recorded on an arbitrary medium and handed to a tourist. A medium that provides identification information is preferably a medium that can be carried around when a tourist goes around a sightseeing spot. For example, paper media (tourist pamphlets, etc. (more preferably, maps and photos can be recorded into albums), accessories and souvenirs (tourist souvenirs such as key holders), electromagnetic storage media The identification information may be assigned to an electronic information terminal (such as a mobile phone or a smart phone).

  Preference is given to non-electromagnetic media. Here, the non-electromagnetic medium refers to a medium having no storage mechanism by electrical or magnetic means such as the above-described electromagnetic storage medium or electronic information terminal. For example, not only a magnetic card and an IC chip mounted card but also a smartphone and a mobile phone are excluded. As the non-electromagnetic medium, a paper medium, an accessory, and a souvenir are particularly preferable. One of the reasons is that even a person who does not have an object corresponding to the above-described electromagnetic medium can cope with problems such as digital divide. In addition, if it is a paper medium (tourist pamphlet, tourist map, and / or photo album) or an accessory / souvenir, there is a high possibility of holding it as a memorable item for at least a long period of time. Therefore, when carrying these items again and revisiting the same sightseeing spot, there is a possibility that it will be useful for identifying repeaters etc. (On the other hand, the above-mentioned electromagnetic media (cards, smartphones, etc.) will be discarded if they become old Or is likely to be replaced.)

  Depending on the medium, the recording form of the identification information can be changed. For the above-mentioned paper media, accessories, and souvenirs, barcodes (one-dimensional, two-dimensional, etc.) may be used, and identification codes (arbitrary alphabets, numerical values, and / or combinations of symbols) etc. may be printed / engraved. May be. In the case of the above-described electromagnetic storage medium and electronic information terminal, the data may be stored after being converted into a standard compatible with the built-in electric memory or magnetic memory. However, it is desirable that the recording form of the identification information is such that the identification information can be mechanically read. Considering these advantages, barcodes, OCR-recognizable characters / symbols, and the like are preferable. In the case of an electromagnetic storage medium or an electronic information terminal, it may be useful to store identification information in an IC chip capable of remote reading operation such as RFID.

  The accommodation facility side provides tourists with a medium (for example, a paper medium, an accessory, or a souvenir) on which the identification information is recorded. Alternatively, the identification information is stored in an electromagnetic storage medium or electronic information terminal originally owned by the tourist.

(3-3) Input / save of identification information, personal information, etc. Thereafter, the accommodation facility side inputs / saves both the identification information and information input by the tourist at the time of check-in. More specifically, these pieces of information can be received from the input unit of the second hardware and temporarily stored in the storage unit. These pieces of information can be stored in the storage unit as first combination information that is a combination of identification information and information input by a tourist at the time of check-in. These pieces of information may be uploaded to the first hardware via the network. And the 1st hardware can preserve | save the 1st combination information uploaded via the network module in a memory | storage part. In any case, by storing these identification information and check-in information as a set, if the identification information is known, various information such as the name and address of the tourist can be extracted.

  However, due to reasons such as the Personal Information Protection Law in recent years, it is necessary to pay close attention to the handling of information for identifying individuals. Therefore, in order to avoid such a situation, when uploading information input at the time of check-in by a tourist, it may be narrowed down to a range where an individual cannot be specified. For example, the uploading of names may be excluded, the address may be limited to uploading at the prefectural level, or a rough age information may be uploaded instead of the date of birth.

(3-4) Tourist Behavior After Check-in A tourist who has received a medium with identification information as described above travels around tourist spots around the accommodation. Here, the tourist presents identification information at various places (souvenir shop, ticket purchase shop, restaurant, etc.). For example, when identification information is printed on a tourist pamphlet, it may be presented on a barcode reader or OCR device as described above. In the case of a card with an IC chip or the like built in, the card or the like may be held over the RFID reader.

  Here, in order for the tourist to have a motivation to present the identification information, the identification information may have a function as a coupon such as a discount on the fee. Or you may make it the structure that a point is added whenever it shows.

  In each of the above sightseeing spots, a third hardware connected to the network is provided. When the tourist presents the identification information, or after presenting the identification information, the third hardware input unit receives the identification information (for example, a barcode reader, RFID reader, or image recognition or OCR recognition function) Identification information may be acquired with a camera or the like with a mark). And this identification information is memorize | stored in the memory | storage part of the 3rd hardware. Here, the third hardware may include a module that stores information on a place where the hardware is installed (that is, position information of a tourist spot) and a clock module. And when the said identification information is memorize | stored in a memory | storage part, the positional information on a sightseeing spot and the information of the time when reading was performed can be recorded together. That is, a combination of identification information, position information, and time information can be stored as second combination information.

  The position information may be expressed by a name or identification code of a specific tourist spot, may be expressed by an address, or may be expressed by a combination of longitude and latitude. The recorded second combination information is uploaded to the first hardware via the network. In addition to the location information and time, the contents and amount of services used by tourists on the spot may be recorded and uploaded to the first hardware.

(3-5) Data Accumulation According to the mechanism described above, the first combination information (identification information and tourists) from one (second hardware, accommodation facility side) in the first hardware storage unit. Information (a combination of personal information, etc.) can be stored. From the other (third hardware, sightseeing spot side), second combination information (identification information, position information, and time information) can be stored. Therefore, the processing unit of the first hardware can match the information (personal information or the like) related to the tourist with the position information and the time information using the identification information as a clue. Then, as shown in FIG. 3, the first hardware processing unit can generate information data about who visited when and where, and stores it in the storage unit as third combination information. can do. Furthermore, as will be described later, by analyzing the accumulated information in time series, it is possible to specify the sightseeing route used by the person.

  It should be noted that the invention of the present application does not require a special device such as GPS when collecting such position information and time information. In recent years, electronic devices with GPS functions (cell phones, smartphones, watches, cameras, etc.) are becoming popular, but some tourists may not have such devices at all. Even if an electronic device having such a function is owned, the function may be turned off for reasons such as battery consumption. However, by using the above mechanism, it is possible to collect the position information and travel route of a specific person as information without requiring any electronic device with a GPS function.

4). Second Embodiment The data collected in the first embodiment can be stored in the storage unit of the first hardware as shown in FIG.

  In addition, the first hardware processing unit executes a process of narrowing down data by a specific ID and a specific date and sorting in time series, thereby specifying a tourist route followed by a tourist associated with the specific ID. 4 and can be processed and saved in the form shown in Fig. 4 (Of course, saving is not always necessary. For databases, queries can be executed at any time, views can be provided, snaps can be created, etc. May be in the form of a shot). For example, in the example of FIG. 3, the data of the tourist with ID = 1 is once extracted, and the data is sorted in chronological order. Then, it can be seen that the tourist has taken a sightseeing route of C → A → B. In order to express such a sightseeing route, after sorting, the sightseeing route column may be provided to reconstruct data as shown in FIG. The reconstructed data can be stored in the storage unit as the fourth combination information data.

  Further, data of different information can be added to the data in the upper part of FIG. 3 or FIG. Specific examples of the data of the different information include sightseeing purpose, evaluation, comments, etc. (lower part of FIG. 4). Such information may be analyzed and input afterwards by the tourism association or the like. In this case, the information can be stored in the storage unit of the first hardware.

  Or the data of such another information may be collected by taking a questionnaire when a tourist checks out an accommodation facility, or providing a separate word-of-mouth site. When taking a questionnaire, the accommodation facility side can input the contents of the questionnaire using the second hardware and upload it to the first hardware via the network. That is, it can be performed by the same means as the information input by the tourist at the time of check-in.

The data described above can be used for data mining. For example, the ID is accompanied by information such as age, nationality, address, gender, number of persons acting (single trip, friends, couple, tour customer). Each of these characteristics can be further classified and aggregated into a predetermined group group. For example, if it is age, it can be further divided into group groups such as 20's, 30's and 40's. If it is an address, it may be divided into groups in each prefecture, or it may be divided into regional groups such as Kanto, Tohoku and Chubu. Therefore, any age (for example, FIG. 5), which nationality, to the people who live in any area, it is possible to any tourist spots or any tourist routes is whether the popular, to summarize such a trend statistically such. Such aggregation process may be I line using the processing unit and a storage unit of any hardware. Preferably, it can be performed using a processing unit and a storage unit of the first hardware in which the data is stored in the storage unit.

  Alternatively, in addition to the above information, information may be combined separately. For example, weather information and seasons may be combined to search for trends in tourist spots or sightseeing routes according to these. Further, as described in FIG. 5, it is also possible to use statistics for investigating the correlation with the sightseeing route by adding objectives, evaluations, comments and the like afterwards.

  In any case, since the data and analysis results collected in the above embodiment are data based on actions actually taken by tourists, their reliability is considerably high. It is also possible to explore popular tourist spots that are not noticed by locals.

5. Third Embodiment The data collected and analyzed in the above embodiment can be used for sightseeing route proposals. In one specific example, arbitrary search hardware is prepared, and the above-described statistical information is stored in the storage unit of the hardware. Here, the hardware for search may be the same as the hardware that created the statistical information or the first hardware. The hardware is connected to the second hardware via a network. Then, the processing unit of the second hardware executes processing for requesting the search route search screen to the search hardware via the network. Upon receiving the request, the processing unit of the search hardware creates a search screen and transmits it to the second hardware. The input unit of the second hardware uses information (for example, age, gender, nationality, number of people, etc.) input by the tourist who checked in, and accepts part of the information as a search condition. Then, the processing unit requests the search hardware to execute the search process. The processing unit of the search hardware extracts the search condition included in the request content and sets it as the search condition. Thereafter, a search process is executed on the statistical information stored in the search hardware, specifically, a sightseeing route using the search condition.

  When a sightseeing route that matches the search conditions is found, the processing unit sorts the search results under an arbitrary condition. The arbitrary condition may be, for example, a condition of sorting in descending order from the sightseeing route having the highest past performance. If the word-of-mouth evaluation data as described above is added, the conditions may be such that the items are sorted in descending order of evaluation.

  As a response method when a sightseeing route that matches the search conditions is not found, or as a response method in which more tourist routes are searched, the search processing is not an exact match search, and a known similarity search algorithm is adopted. May be.

  By using the above mechanism, it is possible to make an appropriate sightseeing route proposal according to the tourist's profile information.

  When searching for a route, identification information may be input as a search condition. As a result, it is also possible not to daringly propose tourist routes that have passed in the past for tourists who have visited more than once (ie, repeaters).

Claims (10)

A method for obtaining tourist location information comprising the following steps:
The first information processing device generates identification information for identifying a tourist and for recording on an article carried by the tourist;
A step in which the second information processing apparatus acquires the identification information from the first information processing apparatus via a network (wherein at least one second information processing apparatus is provided in an accommodation facility); Device),
A step of storing information relating to a tourist (the information relating to the tourist includes at least gender and the number of persons in action) together with the identification information as first set information in the second information processing device;
The second information processing apparatus uploads the first set information to the first information processing apparatus via a network;
A step in which a third information processing device reads the identification information presented when the tourist visits each tourist destination (here, at least one third information processing device is provided in each tourist destination) ),
The third information processing apparatus stores information representing the position and time at which the reading is performed, together with the identification information, as second set information;
The third information processing device uploads the second set information to the first information processing device via the network;
The third set information in which the information related to the tourist included in the first set information and the information indicating the position and time included in the second set information are associated with each other using the identification information. The step of creating the first information processing apparatus. The method of claim 1, further comprising the following steps:
The first information processing apparatus extracting at least one piece of data having specific one piece of identification information from the third set information;
The first information processing apparatus sorts the data based on time information included in the record; and
The first information processing apparatus extracts location information from the sorted data and creates sightseeing route information; and
The first information processing apparatus uses the identification information to combine the sightseeing route information with the first set information to create fourth set information.   The method according to claim 2, further comprising utilizing the fourth set information for data mining.   The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the article carried by the tourist is an article that does not have an electrical or magnetic storage means. 5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the article carried by the tourist is one of paper, an accessory, and a key chain. A method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, information related to tourist, name, address, date of birth, the method is further comprising information of at least one of nationality. The method of claim 1, the information relating to tourists, name, a further comprising information address, date of birth, at least one of nationality,
Using the third set information, nationality of the tourists, address, age, gender, classified in any of the categories of action number of people, the process of creating the statistical information of past tourism tourist route customers traced A method further comprising performing. The method according to claim 2, wherein the information relating to the tourist is information further including at least one of name, address, date of birth, nationality,
Using the third set information and / or the fourth set information, the tourist route is classified according to the nationality, address, age, gender, number of people of the tourist, and the tourist route followed by the past tourist. A method further comprising performing a process of creating statistical information. A method for proposing a tourist route, comprising the following steps:
Obtaining statistical information according to claim 7 or 8 , and
A step of setting information on any one of the age group, nationality, gender, and number of people involved as a search condition,
Using the search condition and the statistical information, extracting a tourist route corresponding to the search condition in descending order;
Presenting the extracted sightseeing route; An information processing apparatus for acquiring tourist location information,
The information processing apparatus comprising the following means:
(1) an identification information generation module for generating identification information for identifying a tourist and for recording on an article carried by the tourist;
(2) a network module that transmits the identification information to an apparatus (hereinafter referred to as a first terminal) provided in at least one accommodation facility;
(3) a network module that receives first set information from the first terminal;
(Here, the first set information is information related to tourists (the information related to tourists includes at least gender and the number of persons who act) and is stored in the first terminal together with the identification information)
(4) a network module that receives second set information from at least one device (hereinafter referred to as a second terminal) provided in each tourist spot;
(Here, the second set information is stored in the second terminal together with information indicating the position and time at which the identification information presented when the tourist visited each sightseeing spot was read. Information)
(5) The third set information in which the information related to the tourist included in the first set information and the information indicating the position and time included in the second set information are associated with each other, A processing unit to create using.

Images