Memo to Self: Add Fun and Unique Searches
The big day has arrived, as the 2024 solar eclipse everyone has been waiting for, finally darkened our skies for a few minutes. While for the universe it's just a routine and uneventful occurrence, for us down here on earth it is a magical celestial celebration. Perhaps because we can witness with our own eyes, the true wonder and bewildering beauty of the universe around us.
Although I enjoyed the eclipse vicariously through others' videos and photos, it was just as magnificent as I had imagined. Before and after the event, I got to thinking about a possible search that could be added to Relavanti for the next solar eclipse several years from now. How exactly would it work?
Solar Eclipse Search:
Relavanti, as you know, is all about holistic relevance, meaning that multiple layers of relevance (and multiple elements of relevance) are connected to provide a more complete picture to the traveler. One of these layers of relevance is geospatial, meaning we consider the geography of elements in a trip when showing search results. Of course, all travel-related websites can show details and services for a particular location, such as a city or country. Yet Relavanti has been designed so that it can pretty much search any type of area, such as geographic polygons or along a line. I think it would be very unique and lots of fun, to add future searches to Relavanti according to the path of a solar eclipse totality. I envision a search where the Relavanti user will be able to quickly see airfares from her or his home airport to any airport along the path of the totality, plus available hotels or short-term rentals, and other services. Instead of searching "packages to Austria" (with Austria being the defined area to search for the services), the user would search for packages that are within an area defined by the path of the eclipse.
Another type of solar eclipse search that came into my mind, is to search for cruises according to ports along the path of the eclipse. Combining Relavanti data with the path of a solar eclipse - now, that would be cool!
Cruise search by special interests:
There many sites offering cruises. The search function on all of them is pretty much all the same: the user enters ports of embarkation or debarkation, ports of call, regions of the world - all combined with sailing dates, cruise lines and specific ships. You can choose between river cruises and ocean cruises, longer and shorter itineraries. The idea is the same, narrow the search using data from relational databases.
Yet, with Relavanti it will be possible to search for cruises also according to special interests: food, cultural experiences, hiking trails, arts and so many other possibilities. The search can be for prior to booking a cruise (such as searching for information about cruises that have winery tours at some or all of the ports of call), or it can be according to a cruise already booked (on a given cruise itinerary, show all ports that have winery tours). Of course, it's possible to combine these special interests, as well as a solar eclipse search, with other cruise search parameters, such as ports of embarkation or regions of the world.
I have to admit being quite excited about the possibilities of holistic relevance. So many opportunities...where to begin?