Scenario - A visit to Aachen

Ms. Miller is working for a large computer company in Brussels. A friend has told her about the city of Aachen and on one of her free weekends she decides to visit Aachen.
 

On a sunny Saturday morning Ms. Miller arrives by train at Aachen main station. The previous evening she has used her home computer to download the newest "HyperGloss Tourist Information" for the city of Aachen from the City of Aachen web site. The information is available not only in German, but in many different languages. After synchronising her Palm with her home computer, the information is available on her Palm.

In case Ms. Miller does not have a Palm of her own, she could have gone to the Aachen Tourist Information and rented for a small fee a Palm to use the HyperGloss system. Since the Palm is equipped with a camera, she can use it to take pictures as well. On return of the Palm after her stay in Aachen, the pictures would be transferred from the Palm to a PC. The pictures can be printed in the Tourist office (for a small fee), copied on a disk or send per email to Ms. Miller.

Throughout the city there are markers for the HyperGloss system. A first marker can be found at the platform. Ms. Miller fits the Kodak PalmPix camera to her Palm and acquires the marker. A welcoming message is shown on her Palm together with a list of the major tourist attractions. She decides to start with a visit the Cathedral of Aachen.

The HyperGloss system offers her different means of transportation: the way to the next bus stop, the next taxi stop or even the next car rental station. But since it is a very fine day, Ms. Miller wants to walk. On her way she finds many HyperGloss marker to orient herself and get to know the city.

The HyperGloss system guides her right to the Cathedral of Aachen. She acquires markers outside and even inside the building. One advantage of the HyperGloss system is the possibility to put markers inside buildings, very close to each other or on moving objects. Other system, like GPS or phone based system, will not allow this.

After the visit to the Cathedral of Aachen it is time for a small rest and a cup of coffee. The HyperGloss system offers a variety of different coffee shop close to the Cathedral and Ms. Miller is guided to the market place. On her way she passes by one of the many fountains. If she would like to, she could read about the story of the fountain, get information about the artist or - with the online version of the HyperGloss system - could connect to the Internet. Here she would have the opportunity to view other works of the artist, order postcards, books or even a small statue.

In the coffee shops Ms. Miller joins the table of a tourist from Sweden. The lady from Sweden has difficulties ordering, since the menu is written in German. But fortunately there is a HyperGloss marker on the menu and an electronic version of the menu is available in different languages.

For the evening Ms. Miller plans a visit to the theatre. In the online version of the HyperGloss System, the marker connects Ms. Miller directly to the web site of the theatre and she can be informed of last minute changes to the program. In addition, tickets can be purchased online. The theatre can offer special rebates and has a full house every evening.

Ms. Miller really enjoyed her stay in Aachen and the use of the HyperGloss system!

Contact: Matthias Rötting, matthias@roetting.de