Case Study | Maps API and Appliance

Visitbyroad.com creates Australia’s most comprehensive online tourism platform with & Google Search Appliance

Company

With the tagline ”Enjoy the Journey,” Visitbyroad, which began operations

in 2013, is arguably Australia’s best online trip-planning website. Users can search, create, save, edit, and share personalised itineraries via At a Glance Twitter, Facebook, print, or emailed PDFs that include dynamic, map- What they wanted to do based planning, photos, and the quickest route-driving directions. • Create Australia’s most comprehensive They can customise their own journeys, including attractions, events, online tourism platform • Unite supply with demand for operators business listings, daily deals, and accommodations available along the way. and tourists on the road Unlike other sites, Visitbyroad does not charge for booking; instead, the • Provide users with a high functionality, goal is to become the website of choice for those who want to make user friendly, map-based digital every journey a memorable experience. travel platform • Use the world’s leading search and Challenge mapping technology provider to Co-founders Randall Walker and Peter Hale have more than 50 years of ensure market-leading capabilities combined experience in regional tourism, and conducted two years of • Run the business efficiently research before embarking on Visitbyroad. They found that the most What they did common feedback from people arriving at a destination for a short stay was • Partnered with DMSBT to integrate Google that they did not understand all that was available to see and do in the area. Maps API and the Google Search Appliance If they had, they may have stayed longer or enjoyed the experience more. with Australia Tourism Data Warehouse • Added more options for viewing geospatial Walker notes that there are many good existing websites, but most of data with DMSBT OniMap them are one-dimensional. They may provide driving instructions, events, • Garnered revenue through advertising attractions, deals, business listings, or accommodations separately, but not and shared income with organizations on the ground that provide content-rich all on one searchable map. information “With our commitment to the tourism industry, we were keen to create the What they accomplished most comprehensive travel planning platform, one that would give visitors • Delivered convenient one-stop-shop to and travel operators the opportunity to view a destination-specific showcase help operators and tourists search for of all the experiences offered in the area, complete with a map-based ability information, plan trips, create and edit for users to create custom itineraries,” says Walker. “We also know that many itineraries, take advantage of daily deals, visitors are driving, because Australia is a such a vast country.” and make bookings • Ensured intuitive use Visitbyroad is designed to cater to both tourists looking to maximize their • Acquired 2,000 registered users prior experience and tour operators who want to create specialized experiences to public launch for visitors based on their age, interests, and preferred routes. The key was • Leveraged open nature of Google Maps to create one online source that would meet the needs of both audiences. API and Google Search to connect to multiple content sources “The majority of tourism operators are small businesses in a highly • Generated positive user feedback competitive marketplace who’ve found that the technology they need to • Provided up-to-date information better serve customers is often too cost-prohibitive,” Walker says. “We for travelers • Made cloud-based service available wanted to give them a genuine differentiator by allowing them to create on mobile devices a custom itinerary for clients from one source.” • Coordinated efficiently among organisations using Google Apps Solution Walker and Hale began working with Google Enterprise Partner DMSBT to design Visitbyroad. They wanted to create a world-class travel-planning solution with the easiest, most intuitive and comprehensive mapping and search tools, and therefore chose to base Visitbyroad on Google Maps and the Google Search Appliance. They also integrated it with DMSBT’s OniMap, About Google Maps API a geographical management system that complements Google Maps through Google Maps API provides a range of optimisation techniques such as clustering, tiling, and simplified polygons and “application programming interfaces”, polylines with one or more line segments between destinations. which allow developers to build with DMSBT linked Visitbyroad to the Australia Tourism Data Warehouse (ATDW) relative ease: • location-based applications containing 24,000 tourism experiences and products through the Google • mobile apps that work on multiple Maps API and a connector to the Google Search Appliance. Visitbyroad also mobile devices has signed a memorandum of understanding with the New South Wales • applications that enable users to bring National Parks and Wildlife Service to add major walks across the state and data to life by visualising and interacting upload them to the site. with geospatial data • customised maps, incorporating and “Everything is presented geospatially using Google Maps, and easily searched highlighting data and imagery specific using the familiar search box of the Google Search Appliance, allowing people to their organisations’ needs to find and explore all the possibilities when visiting a particular location,” Google Maps API provides developers says Walker. with a platform that has the flexibility and power to leverage maps and geospatial Not only can users plan routes, but also they can identify experiences that data in new and truly innovative ways. interest them along the way. Using Google tools, they can filter searches by turning on or off the main categories of attractions, events, and For more information visit accommodations. They can even identify how far they are prepared www.google.com/enterprise/earthmaps/ to deviate from their main route for the right experience. maps-apis.html Results About Google Search Appliance Although Visitbyroad has not been publicly launched, the site already has Google.com puts the Internet’s wealth of 2,000 registered users who’ve adopted the site through word of mouth. User information at your fingertips. The Google feedback has been extremely positive because the information is always Search Appliance does the same for all your agency’s information. The Google up-to-date, which may not always be the case for hard-copy directories that Search Appliance is an integrated hardware are only published at specific intervals. and software product designed to give By uniting search and mapping, both operators and tourists can uncover organizations the productivity-enhancing food and wine experiences, natural and built attractions, events including power of Google search. It’s an enterprise search solution as simple, powerful and growers markets, and all types of accommodation so that anyone can plan comprehensive as Google itself. The latest the ultimate journey. Visitbyroad is also building out content by having local version includes improved relevance, organisations create tourist walks around cities in and then access to more content and enhanced uploading the resulting KML file to the system. security options. Information is stored in the cloud, so it is accessible to users on virtually any device. Visitbyroad itself runs its business in the cloud by collaborating For more information visit remotely using Google Apps to share documents, templates, and email www.google.com/enterprise/search communications with various stakeholders. “Tourism typically has a high “Everything is presented geospatially using turnover rate, but with Google Apps, we can ensure that all information is Google Maps, and easily searched using the backed up bring new people up to speed in their roles without missing a familiar search box of the Google Search beat,” says Walker. Visitbyroad earns revenues through advertising and Appliance, allowing people to find and email newsletters, and also shares income with local operators, travelers, explore all the possibilities when visiting and regional tourism offices that provide content to promote the areas a particular location.” they are passionate about. —Randall Walker, CEO, Visitbyroad “When we show Visitbyroad to users and tourism professionals they all say, ‘Wow! This is just what the doctor ordered,’” says Walker. “We united the world’s best search and mapping technologies with the best sources of information to create something that we believe is unique to Australia and to the world.”

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