NetSprint helps Danes plan their free time

02.08.11

AOX search system – a solution created by NetSprint – was implemented in two Danish cityguide services: www.aok.dk („Alt om København” – „Everything about Copenhagen”) and www.aoa.dk („Alt om Aarhus” – „Everything about Aarhus”). AOK.dk is the largest Danish city guide website, listing 35 thousand locations and information about over 700 current events (e.g. concerts, festivals).

The websites www.aok.dk and www.aoa.dk feature comprehensive information about leisure activities in Copenhagen and Aarhus: entertainment and cultural events, restaurant, shop or hotel reviews. AOX search system created by NetSprint facilitates quick access to information in the following subject categories: restaurants and cafes, take-away, for kids, nightlife, shopping, music, movies, theater, galleries, accommodation, and city life.

Information collected by the system is presented as articles, location pages or event pages. When searching for a specific restaurant or club (type: location) we also find their reviews (type: articles) and upcoming events (type: events).

“Our aim was to implement an efficient and easy-to-use search solution enabling users to find information, whether on exclusive Italian restaurants or a small rock concert next Friday. This was the biggest project made for us by NetSprint since the beginning of our partnership in 2009. During our cooperation, also while implementing the AOX project, NetSprint team proved to be professional and highly qualified” – says Lukas Lunow, IT Project Manager in Berlingske Media.

An innovative search bar available on main pages of both online services enables to find specific types of events, on a specific day and in a specific district. This makes it easy to plan a city tour and is a good way to quickly organize free time.

AOK.dk website with clear division into categories and easily accessible search bar.

Another interesting functionality is “nearby locations” – on location pages the system suggests users complementary nearby locations, which may be interesting for them. For example, if the user is reading about a restaurant, the search engine would suggest nearby clubs to visit after dinner. “Nearby locations” are selected i.a. according to distance (the suggested location should be in the immediate proximity of the location viewed by the user). It is worth mentioning that search results can be also viewed on map.

“Nearby locations” functionality suggesting clubs nearby a viewed restaurant.

Beside (or instead of) the traditional free text field, users also have four drop-down lists with a selection of categories, subcategories (the list is initially inactive), districts or dates available. Upon selecting a category, the subcategory field becomes active and values are dynamically filtered in subsequent lists, which minimizes the possibility of zero results to a user’s query.

Moreover, the system is equipped with advanced filters to precisely limit returned search results. If the user makes a simple query (without using drop-down lists), the list of results initially displays only two filters – category and district. Upon selecting a category, the filter list is refreshed and the complete list of advanced filters for that category appears. Example: http://www.aok.dk/soeg#query:pizza;what:Restaurant%20og%20caf%C3%A9  

Advanced filters enabling precise filtering of search results (in this example: filters for “restaurants and cafes" category)

Other features of the AOX solution:

• Misspelling functionality – in case of an user error the correct word form is suggested. Example: http://www.aok.dk/soeg#what:Restaurant%20og%20caf%C3%A9;;;;query:picceria;  
• “Related Queries” functionality – search engine suggests slightly altered queries, which may render interesting results. Example: the user searches for “pizza” and the system displays search results with a suggestion “You might also ask about: Italian cuisine or pizzeria”.
• Advanced sorting options: by relevance, date, rank position (number of stars granted by AOX editors), popularity (number of stars granted by users), number of comments, event duration and advanced event options – displaying first the events with nearest end dates.

The project was implemented in cooperation with a Bulgarian company ProPeople (http://wearepropeople.com), who worked on the website’s graphic design. Initially the system was implemented only with the Copenhagen website in mind but its architecture enabled quick implementation on Aarhus website. Currently NetSprint is finishing their work on Norwegian version of the system.