Route Generator for Integrating Cultural Heritage to Smart City: Ontheroute

The city is an entity with both tangible and intangible cultural heritage values. It is impossible to think of cultural heritage values ​​independently of the city in smart cities designed to overcome the challenges that arise for all stakeholders and elements of the city from global urbanization, technological innovations, and various urban policies. Cities that transform rapidly should aim to change without becoming detached from their cultural context. In this study, a route planning proposal based on individual preferences will be developed on how “smart city” strategies can be implemented to strengthen, ensure and protect the interaction between cultural heritage and visitors. To transform cultural heritage values into the “smart” state, their interactions with cultural heritage should be improved through advanced infrastructures in Smart City applications. With this study, the aim is to develop a user-oriented route generator integrated with city transportation data to improve the visitor experience. The Istanbul Esenler District was chosen as the field of study given its important historical and cultural values from the Byzantine and Ottoman periods. Also, the area has strategic importance as becoming a smart city in Turkey. With the proposed application, the plan is to provide simultaneous information on all cultural heritage values available to the visitor, convey visual information, and provide verbal explanations. At the same time, the route generator enables interaction with cultural heritage by allowing the user to design routes using smart city transportation data for the bus and metro, current location, and travel times.