Journal of Robotics, Networking and Artificial Life, Vol. 4, No. 3 (December 2017) 209–212___________________________________________________________________________________________________________Beacon-based tourist information system to identify visiting trends of tourists
Akihiro Yamaguchi1,*, Masashi Hashimoto1, Kiyohiro Urata1, Yu Tanigawa1, Tetsuya Nagaie1,Toshitaka Maki1, Toshihiko Wakahara1, Akihisa Kodate2, Toru Kobayashi3 and Noboru Sonehara2,4
1

Fukuoka Institute of Technology, Wajiro-Higashi 3-30-1,Higashi-Ku, Fkuoka 811-0295, JAPAN2

Tsuda College, Tsuda-Machi 2-1-1, Kodaira, Tokyo 187-8577, JAPAN3

Nagasaki University, Bunkyo-Machi 1-14, Nagasaki 852-8521, JAPAN4

National Institute of Informatics, 2-1-2 Hitotsubashi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101-8430, JAPANE-mail: *aki@fit.ac.jp

Abstract
In this study, we propose a system that provides tourist information and obtains trends of visiting tourists using
beacons and cloud service. As part of our research, we are working on the promotion of local area tourism incooperation with a local community. A low energy Bluetooth device is used as a beacon to transmit a universallyunique identifier. In addition, beacons are placed at sightseeing spots and tourist facilities. Our proposed systemcomprises two application programs; one is a client-side application program that provides area-specific tourist
information corresponding to the detected beacon. The other is a server-side application to record time and location
information of the detected beacons. In this paper, we describe the scheme of our system, and present the results ofexperiments conducted using the prototype system in the local tourist area. In addition, we discuss an open platform
for information collection services using beacons.
Keywords: Tourism promotion, IoT, Bluetooth beacon, Stamp rally, Cloud service, Local community cooperation

numbers of tourists and the order in which they visit
sightseeing spots. Recently, beacon technology using
Bluetooth low energy devices has become very popularand various applications have been studied.3) This
technology could provide information about places
visited by tourists and collect tourist trends.
In this study, we propose a beacon-based system thatprovides tourist information and obtains visiting trendsof tourists using beacons and a cloud service. A
prototype of the proposed system was developed forAinoshima Island in Shingu. We then performed fieldtests using the developed prototype system. In addition,
we discuss an open platform for information collection
services using beacons.

1. Introduction
Tourism promotion is considered to be an importantregional activity for revitalizing regional exchange andintergenerational communication.1) As part of ourresearch, we cooperate with the local community topromote local tourism in Shingu, Japan.2) Although
Shingu has many potential tourism resources, forexample, a many natural beauty and historic sites, these
tourism resources are not well known.
There are two approaches to using information
technology in tourism promotion. One is to provide
tourist information using the Internet and the other is tocollect tourist information, for example, trends in theCopyright © 2017, the Authors. Published by Atlantis Press.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).
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Journal of Robotics, Networking and Artificial Life, Vol. 4, No. 3 (December 2017) 209–212___________________________________________________________________________________________________________2. Beacon-based Tourist Information System
In the following sections, we present an outline of theproposed beacon-based tourist information system andmethod for identifying sightseeing spots using beaconand Global Positioning System (GPS) information.
2.1. Outline of the Proposed System
Our proposed system consists of two parts: a client-sideapplication (the client) and a server-side application (theserver). A schematic drawing of the proposed system isshown in Fig. 1. Beacons are placed at the targetedsightseeing spots beforehand.
The server consists of the tourist information
database (TIDB) and visiting tourists database (VTDB).
Tourist information for the targeted spots and facilities
are stored in the TIDB with their corresponding beacon
ID. Beacon detection events for each client are stored inthe VTDB as a record (user ID, beacon ID, time, andlocation).
The basic procedure of the proposed system is asfollows:(1) Beacon detection: The client detects the beacon
when it enters the range of the target beacon.
(2) Beacon information storage: The client sends thedetected beacon ID, client ID, time, and location tothe server, where it is stored in the VTDB.
(3) Tourist information retrieval: Visited sightseeing
spots are identified using the beacon ID, and thecorresponding area-specific tourist information isretrieved from the TIDB on the server.
(4) Identified spot notification: The client is notified
when a spot is identified.
(5) Area specific tourist information retrieval: If theclient user wants to obtain area-specific tourist
information about the identified spots, the client
downloads it from the server.
Using this procedure, data about the sightseeing spots
visited by each client are accumulated in the VTDB on
the server. We can then use these data to identify tourist
trends at sightseeing spots and the order in which
tourists visit these spots.

Fig. 1. Schematic drawing of the proposed beacon-based
tourist information system: (1) beacon detection, (2) beacon
information (user ID, beacon ID, time, and location) storage,(3) retrieval of tourist information corresponding to the beacon
ID, (4) identified spot notification, (5) retrieval of areaspecific tourist information, and (6) identification of visiting
trends from stored data.

spot where the beacon is installed is identified by thebeacon ID and GPS information. In iBeacon technology,
a beacon ID consists of a universally unique identifier(UUID: 128 bits), major value (16 bits), and minorvalue (16 bits). In this research, the UUID is assigned an
application-specific number and we use the same UUID
through our proposed system. The major value identifies
the area in which the beacon is placed. A unique minor
value is assigned for each sightseeing spot. We can thenidentify sightseeing spots by the three values UUID,
major value, and minor value. The identification isvalidated by GPS information.
To handle sightseeing spots where we cannot put
beacons, for example historical monuments in outdoor
fields, we introduce a “pseudo beacon” using GPS. The
pseudo beacon also has a UUID, major value, and minor
value like a normal beacon. When the client’s GPS
position is near the sightseeing spot where the pseudo
beacon is assigned, the client behaves as if it has
detected a normal beacon. In order to implement thispseudo beacon, it is necessary to obtain the information
about the pseudo beacons in the target area beforehand.
3. Development of the Prototype System

2.2. Identification of Sightseeing Spots Using
Beacon and GPS Information

As a prototype of the proposed system, we developed abeacon-based tourist information system for AinoshimaIsland in Shingu. The client is implemented as anAndroid application. The server is implemented using acloud service. In this prototype system, the TIDB isimplemented in the client.

In this research, a low energy Bluetooth device withiBeacon technology4) is used as a beacon. A sightseeing

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Journal of Robotics, Networking and Artificial Life, Vol. 4, No. 3 (December 2017) 209–212___________________________________________________________________________________________________________The implemented functions of the prototype system
are as follows:(a) Tourist information function: The sightseeing spotsof Ainoshima are listed (Fig. 2(a)) and the user cansee tourist information about the selected spot (Fig.
2(b)).
(b) Map function: The user can see the location ofsightseeing spots where beacons are installed. Spots
identified by beacon detection are highlighted using
a colored marker (Fig. 2 (c)).
(c) Stamp rally function: The spots listed in Table 1 areassigned virtual stamps and the user obtains thestamp when the client detects the corresponding
beacon. This function is implemented for use intourism events of the local community. 3,5)(d) Notification function: When the beacon is detected,
the user is notified that the sightseeing spot has
been identified (Fig. 2 (d)). After the notification,
the user is not notified of identifications of the same
spot for an hour to avoid frequent notifications.
(e) Log function: Beacon detection information isstored on the server. New beacon detections of thesame beacon are ignored for 10 min after a previous
detection to avoid frequent communication with theserver.

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

4. Field Test of the Prototype System
In order to test the developed prototype system andevaluate the performance of the tourist data collection, afield test was performed on Ainoshima. The preparationof the field test (beacon installation) and results arepresented below.

Fig. 2. Screen shots of the prototype client: (a) list ofsightseeing spots, (b) tourist information of the selected spots,(c) map of where the location of the spots are indicated bymarkers, and (d) example of beacon detection notification.
(Map data ©2016 ZENRIN and Google)

4.1. Installation of Beacons
For 20 sightseeing spots in Ainoshima and Shingu town,
eight beacons were installed in indoor spots and 12
pseudo beacons were assigned to outdoor spots. The
major sightseeing spots are listed in Table 1. An Aplix
MyBeacon MB004 AC-DR1 was used as the beacon.
This beacon is compliant with iBeacon technology. The
advertising interval of the beacon was set to 1,285 ms to
reduce electric power consumption. The measured
power, which is the expected received signal strengthindicator (RSSI) at a distance of 1 m from the beacon,
was −63 dB.

4.2. Results of the Field Test
In the field test, a total of nine users used the prototype
system on Ainoshima. They visited the sightseeing spots
listed in Table 1 in any order for about 2 h. As a result,
all the spots in Table 1 were identified by the detected
beacons. In total, 223 beacon detection records werestored on the server. Using these data, we can identify
the tourist path of visited sightseeing spots, as shown in
Table 2 and Fig. 3.

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Journal of Robotics, Networking and Artificial Life, Vol. 4, No. 3 (December 2017) 209–212___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Table 1. Major sightseeing spots in Ainoshima.
Beacon ID
BeaconSightseeing Spot(minor)
Type
1001
Maruyama restaurant
normal
1002
Waiting place of Ainoshima Portnormal
1003
Ainoshima Tourist Informationnormal
1004
Wakamiya-jinjya (Shrine)
normal1005
Kizuna-Kan (Disaster support facility) normal
1006
Jingu-ji (Temple)
normal
1007
Waiting place of Shingu Portnormal
1008
Ferry boat “Shingu”
normal1009
Tsumiishi-duka (Tumulus Cluster)
pseudoTable 2. Example of logged data for one test user.
Time
Visited sightseeing spots
11:19
Ferry boat “Shingu”
11:51
Maehato (Ruin of Port)
11:52
Ainoshima Tourist Information
11:53
Waiting place of Ainoshima Port
12:28
Ainoshima elementary school
12:43
Tsurugi-jinjya (Shrine)
12:49
Tsumiishi-duka
13:08
Ainoshima elementary school
13:20
Maruyama restaurant
13:25
Waiting place of Ainoshima Port
13:26
Ainoshima Tourist Information
13:27
Wakamiya-jinjya
13:37
Jingu-ji
13:41
Wakamiya-jinjya
13:42
Kizuna-Kan

5. Discussion
In this research, we proposed a beacon-based tourism
information system. The prototype system wasdeveloped for Ainoshima Island, Shingu, Japan. The
developed system worked well in the field test andtourists’ paths were identified.
The tourist paths identified by our system are basedon beacon detection log data. In comparison toidentification using GPS only, our system has twoadvantages. One is that amount of data for theidentification is reduced, as our system uses log data
only for sightseeing spots where beacons are installed or
pseudo beacons are assigned. The other is that
identification is possible for indoor spots where beacons
are installed.
To use our system in practice, it would be necessary
to increase the participation of local communities andextend the supported area. An open platform for
information collection services using beacons is one
potential solution for this purpose. If an open Web API
to retrieve beacon and tourist information and amanagement system for registered information areprovided, local communities could build their own
information collection service by themselves. To
construct such an open system is one of our future tasks.

Fig. 3. Identified path of visited sightseeing spots from thelogged data shown in Table 2. (Map data ©2016 ZENRINand Google)

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89–112.

Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Shingu Town Office,Shingu Omotenashi Kyokai, and the Consortium of“Fukuoka IT Workouts” for their cooperation. This
research was supported by open collaborative researchat the National Institute of Informatics (NII) Japan(FY2016).

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