Where, Oh Where, Do They Go?

One of the key factors to accurately mapping tourism in a city is the use of effective observation. The problem is, however, how do you obtain the cooperation of the tourist, or be sneaky enough to simply have them not know?

There are many methods of observation to try and map this movement, but which one is most effective? An analysis of each prospective method highlighting the pros and cons of each possible situation can be found here.

Here are a few of the methods that are targeted as possibilities for the extent of our project in Venice.

Camera Monitoring:
Pros - High Resolution, Accurate, Can pinpoint individuals
Cons - Expensive, Intrusive, Light dependant

Manual Observation:
Pros - Communication with tourists, Flexibility, Can collect non-spatial information
Cons - Intrusive, Time-consuming, Small sample size

Questionnaire:
Pros: - Can track decision making, Flexibility, Can collect non-spatial information
Cons - Intrusive, Time-consuming, Small sample size

Ship Traffic Causing Venice To "Sink"?

Everyone has heard the phrase "Venice is Sinking", which is not true. From about 1900 until 1970, it was lowered about 5 inches into the water because of the drainage of the aquifer that Venice sits on. Once they stopped draining the aquifer, Venice rose about an inch. Global warming is ultimately the cause for the rising sea levels, which makes Venice susceptible to flooding



Another suspected cause for the raising of the sea level in the lagoon around this historic city is the dredging of inlets and navigation channels in the lagoon, and the subsequent increase of ship traffic.


If this is truly a cause for the rising sea level in the lagoon, it would be obvious that if you want Venice to stay around as long as possible, dredging of canals and excess ship traffic should be avoided.

Water Causes Trash?

Who would have thought that water causes trash? The Venetian people don't need to think it, they know it. With Italians being one of the world leading consumers of bottled water, at 40 gallons per person per year, they know this fact better than most.


Now this doesn't help their trash bill either, considering the cost to remove a ton of trash from Venice costs nearly 300% more than it costs to remove a ton of trash from Italy's mainland. Venice's going rate is $335 per ton of trash; that really doesn't help when cruise ships dock in its harbor and unload so many tourists that the population of the city increases up to 15%, all in a short amount of time.

Article cites NYTimes article found here

Tourism Pollution

I found an article about Tourism Pollution, and in it I found a small blurb about Venice. It provided estimates and information on how tourism is polluting Venice, and how the tourism is driving away local Venetians.

Green Cruise Ships?

I found a brief article on how some cruise liner companies are putting "their heads and wallets together" to think of ways to make their cruise ships more environmentally friendly. The article gives the names of the companies and the ships they've made which are more "green". We should cross reference to see if any of these ships will be stopping in Venice while we are there.

Oceana

Oceana is a non-profit organization that tries to preserve ocean waters. They conducted experiments on Cruise ships and came up with data on how cruise ships contaminate waters. I think this organization's data may prove helpful when it comes to the environmental aspect of our project.
Loose environmental requirements allow cruise ships to dump everything overboard except untreated and solid waste. Surely the numbers on fuel consumption, and waste production will be useful in our analysis. Although this organization doesn't pinpoint any specific areas, they give us a general idea of how harmful ships are.

A Complete Online Cruise Guide

Cruise Mates categorizes all cruise ships by the company name, and then they go as far as breaking the company down to its individual ships. This site can help us determine the weights, measurements, and capacities for all cruise ships. This information will not only help us in the environmental aspect, but also give us a hint in how many tourists to expect on the various ships taking berth in Venice. Cruise Mates also provides specifications on its services, accommodations, and cruise prices. Its's the perfect site for research as well as for tourists.

Cruise Ship Calendar

I made a calendar that shows the cruise ships that take berth in Venice during the time we are conducting our project. The calendar shows exact times, and berth locations by ship name. It's a simplified version of the VTP's cruise ship schedule.
(I'm having a little trouble getting the calander URL to work, so it might not be workig properly yet.)

Timeline Of The Venetian Cruise Ship Industry

This Timeline provides us with general information about the Venetian cruiseship industry since its origins in about 1900. It breaks down to specific months, and may prove valuable in our research. It can serve as somewhat of a background on the Venetian cruise ship history.

Article on Ship Traffic Impacts on the Port of Venice

Found a website with an article about ship traffic impacts of the port of Venice. The article mentions two impacts; pollution and wave motion. There are some good pictures on the page that help get there point across as well. These are some of the pictures from the site:

E-Book on Cruise Liners

Just found a book on Cruise Line companies and their "shady" business. I also found a review that sums up the just of the book quite nicely.

Photo Dump

Just found some really cool pictures and articles that I didn't want to lose.
"Cruise Control Urged As Crowds Increase"
"Cruise Ships Devastating Venice Lagoon"