Dubai World Trade Centre to introduce Mobile Exhibition Guide for better navigation at GITEX 2003

The Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) are using mobile technology to create an innovative mobile exhibition guide to be introduced during Gitex 2003, providing all exhibitors and visitors carrying a personal digital assistant (PDA) or mobile phone with a comprehensive index of exhibitors and a detailed floor plan to facilitate good networking at the exhibition.

"Gitex is a massive exhibition covering eight exhibition halls and the Sheikh Rashid Hall and this new service is designed to simplify navigating the event for trade visitors and provide them with an efficient planning aid to meet the exhibitors they want, swiftly and effortlessly," said DWTC General Manager Exhibitions, Leasing and Property, Abdulla T. Qassem.

He noted that the mobile guide contains the names of all exhibitors plus floor plans and general show/visitor information packaged together for ease of use. "Essential information about the exhibitors including names, activities, hall and stand numbers, country represented and location maps are all included in the guide and the best part is that a graphical representation of the exhibitor's stand is also provided," Mr. Qassem added.

The guide also includes other helpful features such as a listing of all seminars to enable better time management. Other tips included in the guide are prayer times for the duration of the exhibition and a currency converter to assist international visitors to conduct quick calculations based on latest exchange rates.

"The mobile exhibition guide will be made available free of cost to visitors in English as a download via strategically located booths outside exhibition halls # 1, 5 and 8 using infrared and bluetooth devices to transfer the application to the PDAs/mobiles during Gitex 2003," Mr. Qassem remarked.

The Mobile Exhibition Guide is an excellent example of an open source application, developed using open systems and widely accepted standards that can be deployed on a wide variety of devices, without being constrained to a specific operating system of file format.

The guide will put the information into the hands of the visitors, along with the ability to synchronise electronically through multiple communication modes to get the latest updates or changes.

On site DWTC administrative personnel will regularly update and maintain the exhibition information. Administrators will be able to define exhibitions and exhibitors for that exhibition along with their activities and location in the halls.

The guide is available on multiple mobile and PDA platforms including PocketPC, Palm, Symbian 6.0 and 7.0. This enables the guide to be installed on a wide variety of leading mobile and PDA devices available in the market.

Exhibitors who will be able to avail the new mobile exhibition guide will include users of the following models of PDAs and mobiles: Nokia 3650, Nokia 7650, Nokia 9210, Nokia 9210i, Nokia 3510i, Sony Ericsson P800, Compaq iPaq 3630, Sony Clie PEG-N610, Toshiba e310, Siemens SL 55 and Qtek among others.