Abstract—Information and communication technologies have evolved over the last few years in an extraordinary way, especially in the potential of mobile communications, high-speed networks and bandwidth. The present work presents a system model, from the initial design to the prototype, allowing the real time monitoring of tourists in inhospitable environments, namely agricultural regions and mountainous regions of high risk. Real-time tracking incorporates vital-signal monitoring equipment that will allow tour operators to verify in real-time the physical state of their customers - the users of the system. This system intends to make a significant leap in the use of ubiquitous and non-intrusive computing, in support of tourism-related entities operating in regions with some degree of danger, with publics that in turn have some restrictions in terms of mobility, particularly seniors, over 60 years of age or suffering from some pathology that makes mobility difficult for them. This article uses as an application model to the Douro region, that is World Heritage from UNESCO, where morphological and relief features are the ideal place to test the proposed system.

Index Terms—Orientation systems, support technologies, intelligent systems, pervasive systems.

José Paulo Lousado, Armando Cruz, and Sandra Antunes are with Escola Superior de Tecnologia e Gestão de Lamego, Instituto Politécnico de Viseu, Lamego, Portugal.

Cite:José Paulo Lousado, Armando Cruz, Sandra Antunes, "SPOTur—Tourists Protection and Orientation System in Inhospitable Environments," International Journal of Computer and Communication Engineering vol. 7, no. 4, pp. 136-144, 2018.