Improving Dissemination and Localization of Cultural Heritage Through Multimedia Maps - The Case of Lipari Island

Most of the maps in tourist information websites show only the position of the Points of Interest (PoIs)--providing sometime a link to a webpage--making choices difficult. Multimedia maps, instead, could support users in satisfying the traveler needs giving links to information about the PoIs. The developed application supports improved connections between documents and the places they refer to because the user could select PoIs to visit through previews of its multimedia documents. PoIs could also be filtered through their categories and types, accessibility status and time line, thus improving the system usability. This article describes a multimedia map developed as sample for the Lipari Island, the largest of the Aeolian Islands (in Sicily), inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage List.