Audio Tour Executive Summary
Those who are passionate or concerned or just intrigued about our Earth and environment often wish for ourselves and others a
toolkit that would allay fears, build trust and instill confidence for each of us to explore-acquaint-connect-engage with the nearby reality around us, both natural and man-made.
For
self-guiding visitors at outdoor venues and spaces, such an enabling tool is the
Geolocating Audio Tour featuring a geolocating
map on the visitor's smartphone accompanied optionally by customized
audio-visual messages along any path through the venue taken by the visitor. An outdoor venue subscribing to host a
Geolocating Audio Tour will
sustainably enhance its communications with GPS-enabled
AR and AI (Augmented Reality and Assisted Intelligence) technology that is familiar and accessible to venue visitors using just about any generation of smartphone.
You might ask, do outdoor venue visitors really
need a geolocating map? Undoubtedly you've seen
navigationally challenged folks on trails everywhere, unsure of location and/or direction. As @NatlParkService tweets (2024May1)
"There's nothing wrong with following your heart, but it never hurts to check the map too." Also you could take
Apple's advice on this, from their announcement choosing
AllTrails (by AllTrails, Inc.) as the
iPhone App of the Year for 2023. Apple states that
AllTrails "nurtures community through comprehensive trail guides and outdoor exploration for everyone."
Apple's honoring of
AllTrails is particularly heartwarming after we proudly shared news that
Geolocating Audio Tour won
2nd place as 'Most Innovative' at the
35th Annual GIS Map Contest sponsored by the
New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection at NJDEP headquarters in Trenton on
April 20, 2023. That competition featured voting by
professionals in GIS (Geographic Information Systems) from governmental and private agencies across NJ who are using mapping technology to collect, analyze, share and present all varieties of data. Also, we want to mention a well-received
workshop by two professors from Union College in Elizabeth NJ at a September 2023 professional conference presenting their work with
Geolocating Audio Tour.
Users will never see the dreaded message "Your phone OS no longer supports the latest software updates" when they begin to use
Geolocating Audio Tour. That's because the app is uniquely
browser-based and accessed through a web page, and is
not developed and constrained within Apple, Google, Microsoft, Amazon or other app development ecosystems that require the current OS version.
Geolocating Audio Tour also offers
features not found elsewhere.
Click the following to view
example sites that continue to evolve and improve:
Black Run Preserve NJ,
Philadelphia PA murals,
Jackson Woods Park in Long Branch NJ,
NJ School of Conservation in Sandyston NJ,
Turtle Back Zoo in West Orange NJ,
Elizabeth NJ historic tour,
social action in Newark NJ,
Island Beach State Park NJ,
The Watershed Institute NJ,
Brightwood Park in Westfield NJ. Note that you must be onsite to experience the GPS location indicator, and to hear and see messaging which is represented by orange circles.
A special request to outdoor venue stakeholders: With the recognition given to geolocating maps in 2023 by Apple and NJDEP and countless enthusiastic users, please
don't delay the very minimal commitment to
nurture community through a geolocating trail guide and promote
outdoor exploration for everyone. Your venue simply
subscribes (at
no cost in perpetuity for not-for-profits) to arrange a few technical details. To complete the
Geolocating Audio Tour set up we capture your
geographically accurate venue map (though if you don't have such a map, the app easily helps generate a plot of your space). At your own pace you can begin to
create and self-manage scripts and media content which, along with your
Geolocating Audio Tour map, are
immediately shared with visitors on their GPS and Internet-enabled smartphone or tablet.
Click or copy the email address contact@nearbyreality.com or call 732-229-5234, to
quick-start your
Geolocating Audio Tour subscription, to engage with developer-facilitator Phil Falcone, share comments or questions, or discuss possible strategies for your organization and your community to 'walk the talk' with your tour. We're happy to explore with you how to incorporate
advertising which can offer a unique and engaging role for local or wider-area businesses that further builds community.
Venues desiring to more fully exploit their
Geolocating Audio Tour have requested this
job description for a
media content producer to help them enlist (staff, volunteers, a special hire or contractor) and possibly fundraise for this task. To help with your venue planning, you also might consult these updated links for the informative
guidelines for excellence and
justifications for environmental learning from the
North American Alliance for Environmental Education (NAAEE) to help your decision-making regarding programs to encourage visitors to explore-acquaint-connect-engage-advocate at your venue. You can further leverage your use of
Geolocating Audio Tour by networking with colleagues in the
geolocating map movement.
Please consider a
tax-deductible donation that supports
no-cost Geolocating Audio Tour subscriptions for not-for-profit venues.
Visit the
Geolocating Audio Tour store to sign up for our
email list, create an
account, or
subscribe your outdoor venue to
host a
Geolocating Audio Tour.
Click here for a live demo, or
view a YouTube intro video, or see
advantages and
benefits of the web page-based
Geolocating Audio Tour described below:
- A Geolocating Audio Tour can substitute when expert guide staff are unavailable, to assure that the self-guiding visitor experience is rewarding and never inadequate.
- Audio Tour opens up opportunities to harness guide staff's creative power and expertise as they dynamically develop and evolve scripts and produce media content that can promote inquiry, forge connections, encourage respect, and motivate commitment during a self-guiding visitor's environmental experience.
- A Geolocating Audio Tour is accessed simply by calling up a web page on a smartphone of nearly any generation. There is NO app that must be downloaded or updated.
- A visual map of the venue appears on the visitor's Internet and GPS-enabled device with a live dynamic marker that continually shows the visitor's geolocation, and also indicates the direction that the visitor is walking (or if not walking, the direction that visitor's GPS-and-compass-enabled device is pointed).
- Following any route taken by the visitor and with no button pressing, Audio Tour automatically provides a customized sequence of audio and visual messages, each associated with a specific GPS location (POI or point of interest) within the venue (indicated as an orange circle on map).
- Multi-lingual capability is easily scripted, with choice of language continually selectable by visitor.
- Varied themes can be scripted, with choice of theme continually selectable by visitor.
- The game theme when selected on the user's device authentically simulates a directional radio tracker ideal for geocaching or treasure hunt games.
- Tour audio messages are most easily generated by typing in text scripts that then utilize the browser text-to-speech feature of any smartphone browser selected by visitor. There is minimal data usage on a visitor's cellular plan when an Audio Tour exclusively or mostly uses browser text-to-speech.
- A message alternatively can be a pre-recorded audio track. These tracks increase the cellular data bandwidth used by a visitor's device, however.
- Each message can include a pop-up graphic or picture in a small window that is overlaid on the map, that also can be made clickable to launch an external web page with additional venue resources. Alternatively by simply adding a URL, any message can directly include a pop-up web page in a small window that is overlaid on the map.
- Venue content typically is divided across multiple points of interest, each represented by a message circle with radius around a GPS latitude and longitude. All of the above parameters are adjustable by venue facilitators.
- Venue facilitators can easily add, delete or edit text scripts for browser text-to-speech, or upload or delete audio and graphic media, or assign or adjust message circles, using a browser on any Internet-connected device including desktop computer, laptop, tablet or smartphone, with no GPS capability required. While editing, messages can be previewed on that facilitator's device either onsite or offsite, also with no GPS capability required.
- Signage and physical markers at the venue might be coordinated with an Audio Tour, for example by providing a QR code for visitors to initially launch the Audio Tour.
- The Audio Tour cloud-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) is automatically maintained and kept up-to-date, with new features added periodically.
- The Audio Tour platform easily supports all venue visitors, since it is compatible with any browser operating on new or nearly any earlier generation of smartphones. By design the software platform efficiently scales up to handle large numbers of users at the same time without impacting quality of service.
- It is possible to constrain a message to a particular walking direction (or if not walking, the direction the device is pointed), though this may be better handled by script mentions of 'N,S,E or W' since the geolocating map is always oriented with north at top.
- The geolocating map dramatically bolsters a venue's accessibility, but facilitators also could incorporate specific Audio Tour content that boosts a venue's ADA, DOT, FHA, DHS, DCA Compliance and AJEDI (Accountability, Justice, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion). Additionally, facilitators might develop GAT educational themes or even engage students in GAT content development as part of STEAMLA (STEM + Art + Language Arts) activities.
The above features
bypass disadvantages of conventional Audio Tours:
- NO extra device that is rented out by venue and must be learned by visitors
- NO verbose signage that distracts and may cause uncomfortable congestion along a path
- NO continual button-pressing or separate QR codes to hear location-specific messages
- NO trying to interpret venue's static guide map to figure out one's location or direction
- NO app to download and manipulate or update
- NO Internet connectivity needed after browsing to Audio Tour web page IF messages are all browser text-to-speech without graphics-pictures... device can be switched to airplane mode
- NO excessive visitor cellular data plan usage is necessary
- NO expensive pre-recorded sound tracks are required
- NO exclusively non-timely or generic-only messages with Audio Tour's instant-update capability
To send comments or questions please
click or copy this email address contact@nearbyreality.com or call
at 732-229-5234.
