Aug 2012
The Hotel Finder Application is a web-based demo we presented at VLDB 2012. It allows users to specify preferences on numerical, categorical, textual, and spatial attributes in order to find suitable accommodations in the Istanbul area. Necessary data is obtained from OpenStreetMap and extended with information from tripadvisor.com and booking.com.
The user interface provides familiar means for preference input in via a search interface. Furthermore, spatial preferences can be directly drawn on a Google Maps overlay. The application generates a Preference SQL query given all user input and displays best matching accommodations on the map. Furthermore, the single user search can be extended towards finding common accommodations for a group of users.