Xinjiang: Big satellite data takes you on an intelligent tour

At the general control room of comprehensive application and service platform of big satellite data of tourist distribution center for the economic belt of Silk Road in Urumqi, Xinjiang, Liu Chuan was flipping through the data of 75 scenic areas and spots in Xinjiang including visits number, on-site management and traffic regulation.

Thanks to cloud computing, the Internet of things and other new technologies, 75 5A-level and 4A-level scenic areas such as Tianchi Lake of Mount Tianshan and Sayram Lake are connected into the platform. Visitors at home and abroad will enjoy a happy and “smarter” journey during their visit to Xinjiang in this spring festival vacation.

Liu Chuan is the head of technical information division of the Xinjiang Tourism Investment and Management limited company running for the platform. He said the platform derives from the cloud data center of “One Belt and One Road”, adopts an integrated platform architecture from the air to the ground, and boasts self-developed domestic software and hardware infrastructure with its own IPR and mature information security and protection system. It is the first platform able to serve for tourists, government, tourism management departments and tourism companies at the same time.

Work staff at the general control room can not only check real-time conditions such as tourist traffic, traffic conditions, on-site management, but rapidly respond to assist certain functional departments to quickly deal with traffic congestion and scenic areas’ developments based on big data analysis as well.

Besides, technical team developed one map APP of “One Road Navigation” and one mobile APP of “Smooth Silk Road Journey” to facilitate the platform’s operation. The former combines the BeiDou system and remote sensing system in the air with the enhancement system on the ground to deliver more accurate vehicle road navigation system, while the latter could help tourists book scenic areas tickets, hotels, traveling tickets and food online.

The head of the cultural industry division of Xinjiang Tourism Investment and Management limited company Zhuo Huigui said, “89% of Xinjiang’s 5A and 4A-level scenic areas are linked to this platform up till now. It is expected that all of Xinjiang’s 5A and 4A-level scenic areas will be connected by the end of 2018 when the platform and 2 APPs will officially switch from piloting stage to real practice.”

Xinjiang has received over 1 billion visitors for the first time in 2017 with the total visit times of domestic and overseas visitors reaching 107 million, a year-on-year increase of 32.4%. The comprehensive tourism consumption reached 182.2 billion yuan, up by 30%.