Rural Geosystems’ Future in the Smartphone World: The Inception of Romanian Tourist Sites

Abstract

The present study aims to analyze the role of the advancement of smartphones in rural communities’ redefinition and future development opportunities. This paper explores how smartphone applications are transforming our cultural worlds as they are materially constituted in dynamic living Geosystems and virtually illustrated through collective stereotypical images. This research was carried out in Romania using Geomedia methodology, Google Earth datasets and unstructured interviews in order to assess the specific characteristics of analyzed locations and examine the impacts of technology’s evolution on rural communities. The results are as follows. Firstly, modern smartphone applications are providing the possibility for any rural Geosystem to sustainably adjust to modern technology, conserving its cultural values in the human–computer interaction. Secondly, many remote communities want to learn how to be found by worldly tourists within the touch of a smartphone display, and how to transform their traditional households in exquisite accommodations and share the daily life experiences for their families’ livelihood and communal wellbeing enhancement. Thirdly, there is an important tourism expertise deficiency and a considerable need for the valorization of local tourism potential in rural Romanian communities.