By the time the 2008 Olympic Games begin in China at the very latest, a new type of mobile computer program will help tourists make themselves understood to locals. The software is an electronic guidebook and translation program, but also a networked information system for navigating in the metropolis of Beijing. The software, installed on a mobile device such as a cell phone or PDA, enables you to do things like ask for directions, order food, look for nearby sightseeing attractions and give directions to a taxi driver without speaking or understanding a word of Chinese via the display or with voice instructions.

The \"Compass 2008\" was unveiled today in Berlin as the result of a joint project between German and Chinese partners. On the German end, the Deutsche Forschungszentrum für Künstliche Intelligenz (DFKI, German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence), the Frauenhofer Institut ISST and Deutsche Telekom Laboratories were involved in the project as partners. With their expertise in multimodal services, Deutsche Telekom Laboratories played a significant role in the development of the software. Translating the application to active use in the Chinese context represented a particular challenge.

Moreover, the Deutsche Telekom Laboratories cooperated on carrying out the field tests and their evaluation, with an eye to future market potential. On the Chinese end, the project was supervised by CAPINFO, which has as its research partner the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Using an additional localization function, the service can direct its information toward the location. Even in emergencies, when lacking language skills are especially critical, the smart ser¬vice brings certain aid thanks to its reliable combination of user-friendliness and language translation. Test users singled out the fact that they needed neither manuals nor time to get familiar with the service as particularly positive. The service runs on mobile devices (e.g. T-Mobile MDA Pro, PDA), laptops and PCs and has an intuitive interface.

The project, funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and by the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology, began on October 1, 2004. The integration of the information services developed into the technological infrastructure of the Olympic Games will be complete in the summer of 2007. Other possible applications - e.g. for tourists or visitors to major events abroad - are currently being tested by the project partners.