How can interactive maps help people plan great travel experiences? Destination travel is a popular way to experience the world for millions of people. Until now, little research has been conducted to establish what this type of user might actually need in a map-centric application. Most current approaches do not emphasize the role of space and place in travel preparation to help users understand the spatial dimensions of their travel plans. In addition, most of the available trip planning systems are proprietary in nature. Our work seeks to develop an application that goes beyond providing support for simple itinerary creation. We present results from a user survey to assess key spatially-supported travel task needs and design preferences. This data helps characterize the core functional needs for a FOSS web-GIS application and accompanying user interface designed specifically for destination travelers. None
