Are we there yet? GPS a tourism hit
Finding the ideal way to use GPS technology in tourism can be as tricky as booking the perfect vacation. Companies across the globe are popping up with useful devices for visitors, and location-based services are now available at many of the most popular attractions. Many are handhelds, some are for autos, and some come with an entire car of their own.
Go, Car! On a recent Late Night with Conan O’Brien, the NBC talk show host took the three-wheeled GoCar for a spin with guest Bob Saget. But the little two-person stalled on one of San Francisco’s famous hills. After Saget pushed O’Brien to the top, the duo ditched it by the curb.
The GoCar’s gotten more favorable (if less humorous) coverage from media ranging from the Today Show to Time magazine, which named it “One of the Coolest Inventions of the Year” for 2004.
“The car continues to generate a lot of buzz, but in reality we see ourselves as a technology company pioneering in the GPS tourism space,” said Alasdair Clements of GoCar Franchise Services. He said that as far as he knows, GoCar was the first commercially operated GPS-guided tour company.
“GoCar was originally concieved as a consumer-oriented application of our GPS Tour software, which we began developing in spring of 2003,” Clements said. “We wanted to enter the sizeable tourism market in San Francisco, with an automated tour guide experience, using the full power of GPS to entertain and inform tourists. We had to develop our own system, as surprisingly there were no devices or software on the market at that time.”
Introduced onto the streets of San Francisco in April 2004, the little yellow GoCars imported from Holland are equipped with GPS and proprietary tour software. The cars are now also in San Diego, with a Miami franchise coming soon. The audio tours provide driving directions and a running commentary of the sights.
“Our technology hit a cultural nerve and sparked the imagination of our customers,” said GoCar CEO Nathan Withrington. “They love the freedom it gives them.”
Founder Anthony May incorporated Alabama-based IntelliTours’ GPS-powered audio tour system into half his 16-car fleet of rental coupes. An Alcorn McBride GPS box in the car’s trunk triggers as the vehicle passes places of interest, delivering prerecorded narration, music, video, and maps.
May said Tour Coupes offer an independence that GoCars lack, because riders don’t need to follow a set route with turn-by-turn directions. Instead, his company will design a tour for visitors depending on their ages and interests. “We deemphasized the tour aspect and emphasized GPS,” May said. “With us, when you explore the city and if you see something you’re interested in, you can hear about it. A light comes on when it has something to tell you.”
uture Now. The U.K.’s Telegraph likened one GPS tourism device to a tool the hero used in Douglas Adams’ sci-fi classic The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
“I’m standing on the vast southern lawn at Ashton Court, a stately home on the edge of Bristol, clutching a tiny electronic machine that mimics Adams’s device quite eerily,” wrote reporter Nicholas Roe, who tested a prototype. “It’s the size of a postcard and has a small colour television screen with earphones snaking to a slot in the bottom. When I walk a few yards to my right … ping! A bell shrills in my ear and the screen bursts into life. A cheery voice declares, ‘You have walked into an interactive area.’ And what begins is a visitor experience like no other I’ve had.”
The Node Explorer uses a proprietary receiver based on the SiRFStarIII chipset. It communicates over Wi-Fi with a nearby Node Server to present information on a location through sound and a high-resolution display designed for use in sunlight.
The Node Explorer and its platform partner Go Moving Media launched its location-based media experience in May at the historic Stourhead Gardens in Wiltshire, the first of several planned National Trust sites.
Oh, Canada! Drivers who tour the Canadian Rockies can rent the GyPSy Guide, which installs in any RV or car stereo for audio commentary of points of interest (POIs) along the way. Banff-based GPS Tour Guide Inc. launched the guides last summer.