Melbourne City Travel Guide — Interactive City Explorer

Why it Matters#

City information is scattered across many sources. Tourists need a single map-first view that answers: Where should I eat? What’s nearby? How do I get there—and when is it busy? This guide unifies restaurant details (Places API), short-stay listings (InsideAirbnb), attractions and amenities (City of Melbourne open data), and pedestrian activity so choices are fast, informed, and local-aware.

Key Highlights#

Restaurants#

• Browse top spots with details from Google Places (name, rating, photos) and filter by cuisine/type.

Stays (Airbnb)#

• Explore Melbourne Airbnb listings and neighborhoods; compare options with filters for price, room type, and location.

Attractions#

• Discover landmarks, artworks, fountains/monuments, guided walks, toilets, drinking fountains, playgrounds, and more—drawn from City of Melbourne datasets.

Transport & Foot-Traffic#

• Visualize tram stops/routes and overlay pedestrian counts to time visits and avoid crowds. Link out to the city’s live pedestrian system.

Smart Filtering & Map UX#

• Flexible filters (category, price, rating, distance) with synchronized map + list views for quick scanning and decision-making.

Technical Foundation#

• Framework: R Shiny app, deployed on ShinyApps.
• Data & APIs: Google Places API (restaurants/POIs), InsideAirbnb (stays), City of Melbourne Open Data (attractions, amenities, pedestrian counts).
• Visualization: Integrated with Tableau workbooks for supplemental charts/dashboards (transport and category summaries).
• Repo Structure: R/app.R, tab modules (restaurant/, hotel/, attraction/, transport/), www/ (icons/CSS), and data/ folders (airbnb, geographic, POI).