Development of GIS-Based Rumah Gadang Tools as a Tourism Data Integrator for Halal Tourist Villages in West Sumatra, Indonesia

Abstract

Tourism is one of the economic pillars of countries, including Indonesia. However, the Covid-19 pandemic has significantly affected the global tourism industry. Nevertheless, the government has taken measures during this pandemic to prepare tourist villages to drive Indonesian tourism. West Sumatra, a province in Indonesia designated as a halal tourist destination, is actively developing halal tourist villages such as the Koto Baru. In this village, there are many Minangkabau traditional cultural houses called Rumah Gadang (RG). However, these houses are yet to attract tourists due to a lack of information dissemination about the uniqueness of the RG. Therefore, GIS-Based RG Tools (GRT) has been developed in web and mobile GIS (Android platform). This research reports on the development of GRT, which is intended to answer the challenges of developing tourist villages using ICT, namely the use of ICT is still limited to data collection and promotional media only, and there is no integrated tourism village management system with tourist attractions. The GRT was developed using a research and development methodology. Additionally, its development included using the waterfall method whereby PostgreSQL/PostGIS, Bootstrap, PHP, B4A, and JavaScript software were used to design and code GRT. After being programmed, the GRT was tested for functionality, and it was concluded that the app is appropriate and meets the needs of tourists during their pre-trips or visitations to tourist sites. Further research should focus on developing tourism app modules following the uniqueness of halal tourism villages.