A Storytell ing Map of the Upper Mara Valley

Storytelling maps have recently become increasingly popular, as they provide access to otherwise inaccessible places or services. A printed map is a tangible object which mediates the storytelling process. This particular map, featuring the adventures of Pintea Viteazul (Pintea the Brave), a Romanian folk-hero, is designed to enhance tourist experiences
during outdoor activities in a mountain area with relatively accessible
infrastructure and scenic features: the Mara Valley and Creasta Cocosului (Maramureş, Romania). The main research questions revolved around the experience design. The research was based on designing and testing a specific storytelling map for mountain tourism. The main stages of development were the experience design and the map itself. Focusing on a complex geographic location famous for its volcanic relief
and folk tales, it tells the story of the mountain by tracing a parallel between geological features and a national legend.


Introduction
Maps are often used as storytelling communication tools, for example tour guides (ESRI 2012).Successful stories incorporate maps to locate the action, drama and characters using a variety of media: print, film, or video games.The viewer is drawn in and immersed (Strain 2003).The map reader first becomes the viewer; then the viewer becomes a character in their own story.
Various proprietary and open-source platforms capitalize on this by providing storytelling apps, templates and support.There are at least twelve kinds of storytelling maps.Not all ofthem are designed to document past experiences (ESRI 2010).
The particular map which is the subject ofthis paper was designed to enhance tourist experiences during outdoor activities in a mountain area with relatively accessible infrastructure and scenic features: the Mara Valley and Creasta Cocosului (Maramure , Romania).
The region is Romania's first ecotourism destination, established in 2014 by the Ministry of Tourism, covering seven important nature reserves and traditional villages.Its nomination triggered the development of basic ecotourism services there, mostly managed by the association leading the project (Ecologic Maramure ) and the World Wildlife Fund (URL1).Complex tourist activities are provided by travel agents from Maramure , Transylvania, and Bucharest.They capitalise on the Maramure tourism brand, using basic cartographic products for hiking, cycling, and exploring the villages.According to data provided by the tourist information centre in Sighetu Marmatiei (URL2), Romanian tourists rarely use maps for route-finding, due to their low skills in map reading.In contrast, foreign tourists (Polish, German, and French) request good maps when they arrive, even if they have come well prepared.
The available cartographic products for the study area range from printed general 1:100 000 maps and their on-line counterparts, through smaller-scale printed mountain maps for Creasta Cocosului and the Ignis Mountains area, to climbing sketches and trailhead Abstract.Storytelling maps have recently become increasingly popular, as they provide access to otherwise inaccessible places or services.A printed map is a tangible object which mediates the storytelling process.This particular map, featuring the adventures of Pintea Viteazul (Pintea the Brave), a Romanian folk-hero, is designed to enhance tourist experiences during outdoor activities in a mountain area with relatively accessible infrastructure and scenic features: the Mara Valley and Creasta Cocosului (Maramureș, Romania).The main research questions revolved around the experience design.The research was based on designing and testing a specific storytelling map for mountain tourism.The main stages of development were the experience design and the map itself.Focusing on a complex geographic location famous for its volcanic relief and folk tales, it tells the story of the mountain by tracing a parallel between geological features and a national legend.
The general aim of this paper was to examine the potential ofstorytelling maps to enhance tourist experiences during outdoor activities in mountain areas.The main research questions revolved around the experience design.( 1) What was the role of the story told by the map in managing tourist experiences?(2) What were the main features ofthe tourist map that triggered the co-creation of experiences?(3) If used as teaser advertising, might such a map spoil multisensory experience?
2 Material and methods The research was based on designing and testing a specific storytelling map in experiential mountain tourism.The main stages of development were the experience design and the map.
Firstly, we conceived a special mountain map as a teaser or marketing tool for educational mountaineering services (guided tours).Focusing on a complex geographic location famous for its volcanic relief and folk tales, the map told the story ofthe mountain by tracing a parallel between the geological features and a national legend (Pintea the Brave, the Romanian 'Robin Hood').Finally, a graphic design process was applied incorporating multimedia files.The map scale was 1:10 000, printed on a 50×70 cm sheet.There was also an online version.The area covered part ofthe upper Mara Valley, 600 m to 1444 m in elevation.
Secondly, our research into tourist experiences involved designing testing tools to understand the role ofa storytelling map in a multisensory experience and the needs ofusers, and to avoid a staged experience.Testing was preceded by a thorough assessment of the measurement approach, mainly in the area of visitors' preferences.Tools were targeted at potential visitors and professionals working in the area.Pre-testing focused on the most interesting elements of the story to be integrated in the map, particularly outlining the needs of young users regarding mapping products.The second tool was designed to assess different types ofuse for the map during guided tours.
Pre-testing consisted of a simple, direct survey to evaluate criteria such as general aspect, layers, multimedia usage and scenario on a relative ranking scale, targeted at high school or university students, selected from the region by age, gender, level of education and background.The survey was conducted as part of a larger endeavour at a local high school in Sighetu Marmatiei (Maramure , Romania).It involved 533 students during the last semester of2016/2017 (Table 1).
We asked the students about the general aspects of the map they preferred for four types of tourist experience scenarios.These were derived from the main functional spatial abilities described by Todd Bacastow (2014): context, spatial patterns recognition, recall ofpreviously observed objects, and integration of observation series, object rotation and scene visualization (Table 2).
At the same time, we conducted an assessment of different types of map used during guided tours.We carried out interviews with six local guides and tourist information office employees in the area (Table 3).
Experience tourism scenarios were created to determine visitor preferences for active or passive features in the protected area of the Gutai Mountains and the upper Mara Valley.The working hypothesis was that tourists would opt for a less active tour (Moyle et al. 2014), unless teaser advertisement and well-coordinated communication were established.Ifused as a teaser without giving away too much information, a storytelling map would probably have an inconclusive effect on a multisensory experience.Each scenario was presented by a certain map of the area.However, the terms of reference for scenario building were a classical hiking tour materijale jer imaju vrlo ograničenu dostupnost.Karte poslovnih tvrtki i komercijalno izrađene karte nisu dostupne.Zato smo pripovjednu kartu iskušali kao provokaciju za marketing turističkog proizvoda, ali i kao alat za učenje.
A storytelling map combines a classic map with other digital content to tell a story in a new, creative way.At first glance, the story in this case was a linear narrative presenting the epic adventures of the national hero Pintea the Brave, an outlaw sometimes called the 'Romanian Robin Hood', who lived in Maramures in the late 17th century.His adventures intersected with several geomorphic features related to volcanic activity, which might help explain their fantastic nature.The story combines legend and scientific explanations.To support it, the spatial data on the map were presented in a logical structure: base map, imagery, and tabular for the trails (processed for optimum visualization and according to the pre-testing results).South and North ▪ 3D visualization platforms map in the eco destination (URL3), a cycling tour map (URL4) and a Greenway project (URL5) which has a basic map of the area as output (Figure 1), adapted for different scenarios.Stopping-points and milestones, some ordinary, and some with particular significance, were identified through rigorous documentation and tasks related to new tourist products.

Aktivna apsorpcija
Karte proizvedene za obrazovanje obično se slažu s pripovjednim kartama.Naša karta ima značajke dokumentarca, koristimo se poboljšanom vizualizacijom i interaktivnošću integriranja online sadržaja kako bi se prikazala određena znanstvena točnost o ugašenim vulkanima na tom području.Priča isprepliće stajališta na prvoj karti (s povijesnim slojem) i objašnjava nekoliko The multimedia content was embedded in a web version ofthe map.Along with traditional photographic and video files, it included excerpts from a 1976 film about Pintea the Brave, several versions ofthe ballad in audio and text form, and pamphlets on the subject.The experience enhancers are in still in the testing phase, and two currents projects focus on augmented reality with hero markers printed on the map and a 3D game terrain in Unity.

Main features of a tourist map to trigger experience co-creation
Each tourist co-creates their experience with other tourists and service providers (Ritchie and Crouch 2003).This has become a research subject in relation to tour guides (Weiller and Black 2015).Tour guides often use digital media to facilitate tourist access to specific contents, including maps.Our map is an easy Fig. 3 AR markers printed on the map and sample view of the 3D terrain in Unity Slika 3. Oznake proširene stvarnosti otisnute na karti i prikaz uzorka 3D terena u igri Unity geomorfoloških aspekata: Pintein stol zapravo je svjedok diferencijalne erozije, Spilja je rasjedna linija pećine koja se formira unutar struktura kratera na koje utječu lokalni tektonici, trag na grebenu pokazuje oblik vulkanskog tijela, Skok je litica s vulkanskom stijenkom, itd.Sve su te priče ispripovijedane uz tiskanu kartu s oznakama proširene stvarnosti (slika 3).

Passive absorption
Our map is printed for a classic tour mostly based on marked trails and enhanced by relevant stoppingpoints relevant to Pintea the Brave and his adventures: the table, the leap, the cave, the tomb, and so on.To attract more visitors, it has an on-line teaser with video content and a Google tour (Figure 2).

Active absorption
Educational mapping products are usually like this one, with documentary feature visualization enhancers, and interactive integration of on-line content (in this case, to provide scientific information on extinct volcanoes in the area).The story connects the stoppingpoints on the first map (with a historical overlay) and explains several geomorphological aspects.Pintea's table is actually a record ofdifferential erosion, the cave is a fault line cavern formed within the crater structures affected by local tectonics, the trail on the ridge follows the contour of the volcano, the leap is a cliff with a volcanic rock face, and so on.All the stories are told using a printed map with AR markers (Figure 3).

Passive immersion
The general aspect of the map with outlook points and sample panoramas is intended for aesthetic gazing, while a shifted perspective, looking southwards, shows a sketch of the trail and points of interest for image retrieval (photo, video).

Active immersion
In order to attract young tourists who are into fantasy and escapism, the map presents the trail through a legend: the heroic characters, their challenges and adventures, and the happy end.It also forms a base map for a game developed around the story.

Conclusions
The map is designed to enhance young tourists' experience during outdoor activities, rather than selling tour guide services and products.Web-based storytelling maps have become increasingly popular, as they provide access to otherwise inaccessible places or services.A printed map can mediate the storytelling process (with help from the telecommunications infrastructure -mobile coverage and good internet speed).

3
Results and discussion3.1The role of the story told by the map in managing tourist experiences

Table 3
Conceptual framework of the interview with tour guides

Table 2
Functional spatial abilities embedded in the survey