[Corpora-List] Q: tourism points of interest dataset (fwd)

[Trevor Jenkins]

On 22 May 2013, at 13:34, Eric Atwell <E.S.Atwell at leeds.ac.uk> wrote to Corpora-L:

> Tom Crowe of AnyTranslation.com asked:
> 
> I am looking for point of interest databases, an example would be the monuments in London.

What cultural register are you looking for? Michelin red guides or i-Spy books? For those non-UKers who don't know about i-Spy books these are basically tick-lists for children, which ironically Michelin now publishes, but not to be confused with a similarly named imprint of early readers from Scholastic. Although the original i-Spy books were more than just train spotting lists of loco numbers. Some of the included items were rather difficult to find and earned the reader five, 10 or more points compared to the one point they could claim for an easily found item.

It also depends upon the personal definition of "point of interest". For example yesterday, on my way to interpreting assignment in central London, I was approached by two tourists who asked for directions to … "the nearest McDonalds or Greggs" whereas after my assignment I went to the National Portrait Gallery for the Man Ray Portraits exhibition. (For non-UKers Greggs is a chain of bakers known for its sausages rolls and pies.)

What's the "granularity" of the monuments? Something large the size of the Houses of Parliament, or smaller like College Green (the patch of grass on which TV news crews interview MPs), or smaller still such as statue of Winston Churchill on Parliament Square. And what about "termporality"? For example, the late and much missed Brain Haw's peace camp also at Parliament Square, which was there for a decade? Or the Occupy UK camp at St Paul's? Or places of interest of even shorter duration such as the bunches of flowers spread around to commemorate some fatal accident or death that remain for weeks? Or because it is open at the moment the Chelsea Flower Show? And not to forget the NPG's Man Ray show, which only lasts until around the end of the month.

> I am trying to build a database for use in an app I am developing and need to get hold of as much data as possible. …

Ah, then I'd better stop giving you hints as I'm developing a touristy app myself ;-) but for a well defined and limited domain.

> E: tom at anytranslation.com| W: ww.anytranslation.com

But one last hint … you need an additional w in that address.

Regards, Trevor.

<>< Re: deemed!


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