GPS Tours

After UGA’s season-opener on Saturday (Go Dawgs!), I drove to Eastern Tennessee to visit my sister. She lives in a teeny tiny town called Cumberland Gap right near the tri-state border of Tennessee, Kentucky and Virginia. To get there I had to take a number of turns on various country back roads. As I drove into the night, I couldn’t help but wish I had a Global Positioning System (GPS) in my car to ensure that I didn’t miss a turn. As I thought about the innovations that led to the introduction of the portable GPS, I couldn’t help but wonder what advancements would be seen next. So, I did a little research and discovered one way that the travel/tourism industry is using the GPS to better their services.

In July, Bermuda introduced GPS-guided walking tours in three of their most visited tourist destinations—Hamilton, the Town of St. George and the Royal Navy Dockyard. The company, Bermuda Walking Tours, uses GPS Ranger devices to present information through various multimedia forms. They utilize “compelling narratives, engaging musical soundtracks, photography, text and interactive maps,” according to a press release. The information provided via the GPS device is specific to the users current location. As tourists move throughout the city, the information changes to match what they are seeing or where they are located. Tourists can rent the devices for two or three hours at a time and spend as much or as little time at each attraction.

GPS tours are usually available to use on foot or by car. However, some tourist destinations now also provide them in the air—during helicopter tours. A helicopter pilot in Los Angeles also created a GPS tour using Geovative Solutions, a user-friendly website that creates audio tours called GeoTours. In addition, GeoTours Mobile was developed so users can download multimedia tours directly to their personal cell phones. It’s getting better and better!

Although the GPS technology is not necessarily new, this use of it is. As the title of this blog indicates, individuals and businesses alike are taking technological innovations and generating new ideas, such as GPS tours, that are impacting many aspects of life.

Virtual Philadelphia

When it comes to new media and tourism, Philadelphia is setting the bar.

In January 2007, the city unveiled a $5 million dollar campaign called “uwishunu” (pronounced “you wish you knew”) to promote the city through various new media outlets including ”blogs, podcasts, social networking sites, photo- and video-sharing Web sites, RSS feeds and ‘in-the-know’ residents to spread the word about the new Philadelphia,” a press release from the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation said.

They have increased the use of Web 2.0 tactics to reach a unique, growing audience who relies on the Internet to plan and book individualized travel experiences. 

Now, a year and a half later, Philadelphia has taken new media tourism one step further by introducing a 3-D virtual tour of the city. Using GeoSim Systems, the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau and Center City District are combining satellite images, aerial photos and street-level digital photos to create the technologically advanced video. Users will soon be able to walk, drive or even fly through the city’s most acclaimed areas…without leaving their home or office!  

To learn more, watch this preview video describing the various benefits of Virtual Philadelphia.      

Hello, New Media!

This blog is all about new media, specifically the new ideas it presents for the travel/tourism and non-profit industries.  I am very excited to learn about the limitless opportunities new technology offers!