Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau
Logicalis implements a meta-search engine to make search results more relevant by integrating multiple data sources.The Client
The Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau (CCTB) is the sales and marketing organization charged with bringing both business and leisure visitors to Chicago,; actively booking group meetings at McCormick Place, Navy Pier and other venues, as well as promoting Chicago as a destination to the visitor industry. The CCTB has three web sites: ChooseChicago (targeted at the convention attendee), 877Chicago (targeted at the tourist), and MeetInChicago (a subset of both).
The Challenge
The CCTB was looking for a unified web search capability where web site visitors could find everything in one spot and the results would make sense. The CCTB uses a hosted software solution for managing and directing web visitors to its many members. While the hosted solution was an easy and cost effective way for CCTB to manage its members, it did not provide intuitive search results nor was it easy to customize. Additionally, the CCTB needed to integrate their separate databases for city events and convention activities into the search.
The Solution
Logicalis developed a meta-search engine that integrates multiple search results from CCTB's hosted solution into a single, comprehensive results page. The event and convention databases are integrated into the single search box. Customized redirection based on keywords and high level category listings are also supported by the new search engine.
Key system technologies include EJBs and JSPs for search code, HTML for display purposes, and JavaScript for interactivity. An open source application server was used to host the solution and a DMZ was configured to serve the solution from the CCTB office.
The Bottom Line
With Logicalis' help, the Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau now has a meta-search engine that provides more relevant results by integrating multiple data sources. Visitors to their web site are now able to find everything in one place with results that make sense.
