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Thomas Cook Northern Europe Case Study

Featured Mashup: Thomas Cook Northern Europe
Where? http://www.thomascook.se/start/start.aspx?
Developer: Thomas Cook team

Thomas Cook

The Site

Thomas Cook Group PLC is a leading international leisure travel group, created by the merger of MyTravel Group PLC and Thomas Cook AG in June 2007. The Group enjoyed €12 billion in revenue in 2007, employing 33,000 people and operating a fleet of 97 aircraft, over 3,000 travel stores, and 46 hotels and resort properties. The Internet is a key element of the company's success. Each year, over half of the 19 million Thomas Cook customers book their trips online. Johan Hägglund, Team Manager for web development at Thomas Cook Northern Europe, is responsible for creating compelling websites for that subsidiary. For example, a new site for Swedish tour operator Ving (one of the Group's major brands) includes several key components of the Microsoft® Windows Live network of Internet services, including the Live ID identity and authentication system, Live Messenger instant messaging controls and API, and the Virtual Earth mapping platform. These web services enable travelers to log in securely to the site, discuss travel plans with other passengers, and visualize vacation destinations on a world map. Future plans include the use of Microsoft Silverlight, a cross-browser, cross-platform development system for delivering rich interactive applications for the Web. Silverlight will deliver high-quality video marketing content for the Group's websites. "Travel marketing has moved way beyond HTML," says Hägglund. "We intend to remain at the top of our industry."

Why the Windows Live Platform?

When asked about the benefits of deploying Windows Live services, Hägglund quickly cites flexibility and speed. "The key benefit of using Live Services is a great reduction in development time," he says. "We can program with a modular approach, saving time and resources." Other advantages of the Windows Live Platform for include:

  • Ease of use enables fast integration of services into the website.
  • An existing user base of over 400 million Windows Live ID and 300 million Windows Live Messenger will encourage the adoption of login and social networking features.
  • Clear, easy to use SDKs and APIs provide helpful support, enabling Hägglund's team to leverage code examples developed by others.
  • A strong third-party Microsoft Partner developer network and online support provides helpful support and fast response. "Usually, we can get answers within a day," says Hägglund.
  • Re-using code saves development time and cost.

Programming Environment

Hägglund's team of developers use the Microsoft .NET framework 3.5, Visual Studio Team System 2008 Team Foundation Server, and Visual Studio 2008, programming in C# and JavaScript.

Under the Hood

The following code fragment shows how the Virtual Earth map is loaded with travel destinations (the example is Aalborg, Denmark):

map = new VEMap('destinationsMap');  
map.LoadMap(new VELatLong(45.3081, 6.1928), 1, 'h', false);  
map.SetDashboardSize(VEDashboardSize.Small);  
layers[currentLayer] = new VEShapeLayer(); 

var veLayerSpec = new VEShapeSourceSpecification(VEDataType.GeoRSS, rssurl, layers[currentLayer]);  
map.ImportShapeLayerData(veLayerSpec, onFeedLoad);

xml:

... 

Aalborg 

 

57.100000000000001 

9.8399999999999999 

images/airport.gif 

...
Published Wednesday, October 08, 2008 12:50 PM by JonB