This paper focuses on collaborative geomedia research methodologies. Geomedia can be described as intersecting theories and practises from media and communication studies and human geography. By using the concept of collaborative geomedia we point to a research approach in which tourism actors, researchers, designers and visitors together develop place-based digital experiences. Collaborative geomedia methods can be applied as research tools among scholars with interest in how various groups relate to and make sense of a certain place and its history interconnected to practical development of concrete location-based applications that are developed through collaborative work involving researchers, designers and potential users.  

We will discuss this type of method and how it has been used in an on-going research project regarding place-based digital visitor experiences. The fast pace of technical development within the tourism industry creates a gap between the development and knowledge about digitalisation and mediatisation within the industry. While the technique tends to steer the development, the digitalisation within the industry increases rapidly with lack of reflection of how different actors from the industry is included and what the effects are for the tourism destinations and the local place. This paper intends to fill an identified gap of knowledge about methods for enhancing visitors’ on site-experiences using digital media, where key actors in the local tourism industry and community are included and were processes of development are based on place-anchoring. By launching the geomedia approach within the research field in tourism studies, we are building a bridge between technology and people and connecting media with a place-based perspective. By using the geomedia perspective, we focus on ‘who can communicate what at different places?’ What is represented at places and ‘whose’ places are represented (today and in the past)?