Historical sites in the virtual world of the Ingress game – case study of small towns in the Krakow Metropolitan Area

Ongoing changes in communications technology create new opportunities not only in terms of acquisition of data on urban cultural heritage, but also in terms of active participation in the creation of such heritage. One example of this is interactive games, which are used in the field of tourism, including urban games and rural games. One of such games is Ingress, which is played in real time in virtual reality on mobile devices. The game board for Ingress is a real map of the world, produced by Google Maps, with superimposed virtual objects (portals) that reflect physical sites in geographic space submitted by gamers and approved by the entity managing the game. The aim of this study was to identify sites in urban space that are submitted to the world of virtual reality in the Ingress game. In addition, the goal was to determine how these sites affect the tourist offering of the city. The study consisted of an analysis of the number and type of historical sites officially listed in the register of stationary historical sites in 12 small towns in the Krakow Metropolitan Area. The list was then compared with their presence in the game of Ingress. The study analyzes the nature of the virtual game map for towns, presents an inventory and classification of sites submitted by gamers, and estimates the rank of historical sites among all sites available in the game. Research has shown a strong  dependence of the number of portals introduced into the game of Ingress on the number of residents of local municipalities. The virtual world of attractive sites introduced by gamers into Ingress is substantially different from that shaped by tourist guides and the actual history of cities. The number of Ingress portals per city does not reflect the nature and number of historical sites registered as cultural heritage sites. In small cities, the nature of the portals is similar. Most portals are dominated by commemorative plaques, sculptures, and monuments as well as religion-oriented sites including churches and chapels. On the other hand, the number of recreational, educational, and cultural sites is negligible. The employment of new local marketing strategies based on social networks and urban games is not very common.

Potential and functional tourist areas in the Roztocze region in the light of the results of a multidimensional comparative analysis – methodological challenges and problems

The considerations presented below are part of current studies focused on touristic regionalisation methods. They attempt at developing a method for identification of tourist units (potential and functional areas) in the Roztocze region based on uniform criteria. The aim of the study was to initiate a discussion on methodological problems related to delimitation of touristic regions. This was achieved by a description and analysis of criteria applied currently in the touristic division of Roztocze and by a detailed assessment of potential and functions. Consequently, areas differing in their tourism potential and the degree of development of the tourism function have been distinguished. The obtained results indicate a necessity to continue the investigations of this issue, since delimitation of tourist regions remains a yet unresolved current problem. Therefore, it requires further studies, based in particular on modern techniques and research tools used in combination with various conceptual approaches.

Location of accommodation services in the vicinity of the Old Town Market Square in Warsaw

The aim of the article is to characterize the accommodation base in the vicinity of the Warsaw’s Old Town from the point of view of its location, category structure and prices for accommodation services. Although this area is the only tourist precinct in Warsaw (‘tourist district’), for many years accommodation establishments were scarce here. The situation has changed since the development of sharing economy was launched. The study conducted in October and November of 2016 showed that on the area within a radius of 1 km from the centre of the Old Town Market Square there were as many as 225 establishments with about 1,500 beds. An important part of these places were  apartments to rent from the website provided by the Airbnb. Although about 43% of accommodation establishments were located up to 300 m from the centre of the market, no clear relationship between a distance from the market and a number of apartments to rent was identified. This, however, might have been caused by a relatively small area chosen for the research. Finally, the study shows that the most expensive apartments to rent are located in the surroundings of the Old Town Market Square.

Vistula riverbank areas in Warsaw as a site of gatherings (in the opinion of the inhabitants of selected housing developments)

The presence of a river determines to a large extent the development and shape of a city. The process of revitalization of riverbank areas, which can be seen in cities all over the world, started in the second half of the 20th century. It leads to the creation of new, attractive spaces. In Warsaw too, much has been undertaken to transform the riverbank areas into recreational sites for the city’s inhabitants. The purpose of this paper is to present the social importance of riverbank areas in Warsaw. The issue has been discussed on the basis of the results of surveys conducted among the inhabitants of two Warsaw housing developments, as well as of research in the literature and news posted on web portals. Many projects are being implemented in Warsaw, whose main purpose is to increase the attractiveness of the riverbank areas through the improvement of their state of development and esthetics, as well as through the formation of new relationships between the city and the river and the development of diverse forms of activities, especially tourist – and recreation-oriented ones. Moreover, the Capital City of Warsaw markets and promotes these areas. As can be seen from the surveys, public awareness also undergoes changes related to the perception and utilization of the Vistula riverbank areas. Further shaping of these spaces depends not only on the city’s authorities, but also on its inhabitants. For that reason, the cooperation between the self-government, public organizations, and business is of essential importance for the creation of the future of these areas

Network of hiking tourist trails in the Izerskie Mountains Landscape Park in the northern Czech Republic

Located in the Czech Western Sudetes, the Izerskie Mountains Landscape Park has a quite developed network of tourist trails. Among them are hiking trails, which were analysed in this article. The density of this network was examined with reference to the natural conditions, tourist attractiveness of certain parts of the park and directions of tourist movement. Using coefficients connected with the graph theory the connectivity and the type of the network was defined. The course of the trails was analysed in comparison with the distribution of the most valuable areas (nature reserves), tourist infrastructure was also taken into account. Besides methods connected with the graph theory the analysis of tourist maps (including comparative analysis of maps from different periods) and results of field studies focused on inventory of types of trail’s surface and connected infrastructure were used in the paper. A stress was laid on changes introduced in the network in recent years (new trails and changes of course of those already existing), which resulted in reduction in the length of sections having asphalt or concrete surface and sections of combined course of trails intended for different forms of tourism. The network of hiking trails in the Izerskie Mountains Landscape Park can be assessed as proper and being a source of some good standards.

Geomorphological and geological conditions of the central part of Międzyrzecz Fortified Region, Western Poland

The Międzyrzecz Fortified Region (Festungsfront the Oder-Warthe-Bogen in German) is located between the Odra and Warta Rivers. This fortification system was built by the Germans in order to protect the eastern border of the Third Reich, in the years 1934–1944. The area between Kursko and Lubrza (the central part of the Międzyrzecz Fortified  Region) was the most fortified one. In this paper the author discusses geomorphological and geological factors, which determined the location of bunkers in the studied area. The morphology, lithostratigraphy and hydrogeology of the central part of the Międzyrzecz Fortified Region were described in detail. Moreover, the depositional processes and  sedimentary environments during the Weichselian were identified. The placement of pillboxes in the central part of the Międzyrzecz Fortified Region was conditioned by geomorphological factors and to a lesser importance – by geological ones. The bunkers connected by underground system were built on the upland, whereas isolated objects were located in valleys and in the vicinity of lakes and watercourses. An additional factor that could affect the location of bunkesr was provided by hydrogeological conditions.

Impact of sea level changes and fluvial processes on the location of the Piaśnica river mouth and the lithodynamic of bed sediments

The aim of the article is to analyse changes in the channel layout of the Piaśnica River estuary and the lithodynamic characteristic of bed deposits as a consequence of sea level changes. The analysis is based on the results of measurements in the river estuary conducted in the years 2014–2015. The data of daily average sea level were obtained from the Institute of Meteorology and Water Management (IMiGW) station in Władyslawowo and Łeba. The research documented distinct changes in the position of the riverbed. Analyses of textual indicators were conducted i.e. mean grain size (MZ), standard deviation (σI), skewness (SkI) and kurtosis (KG) were calculated according to Folk and Ward  ormulas (1957) using the Gradistat software. Based on the abovementioned data conclusions were made about the changing conditions of the river sediment transport.