More and more tourism outfits are getting on the GPS technology bandwagon and renting ‘GPS Tours’ and I’m not convinced that it’s really worth it for the consumer to go out and rent one of these devices.
One example of this type of service is the GyPSy Okanagan Wine Tour in British Columbia, Canada. You can [...]
More and more tourism outfits are getting on the GPS technology bandwagon and renting ‘GPS Tours’ and I’m not convinced that it’s really worth it for the consumer to go out and rent one of these devices.
One example of this type of service is the GyPSy Okanagan Wine Tour in British Columbia, Canada. You can rent a GPS device pre-programmed with a tour of the Okanagan Wine Making District. The guided tour has audio prompts that tell you where to go and when the point of interest comes into view - Sounds like a basic operation of the middle of the road Garmin Nuvi or TomTom Navigational GPS to me!
GyPSy Tours also has other tours available for western Canada - They’ve covered Banff, Jasper, some of Vancouver Island, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver.
The GyPSy Tours can only be rented with a GPS device included and it will cost you about $220 for 7 days and when your done with the device you can drop it off at one of their drop-off locations in the area.
If you do some smart shopping you can get a pretty good Navigational GPS for $220 these days and if you shop around on Amazon.com you’ll be sure to find one that suits your needs in no time. With a little more searching on the internet you can set up your own tour in your GPS (that you get to keep) in no time - don’t forget that that’s what these devices were made for!
But if you still want to check out GyPSys Guided Tours you can find their web site at GyPSy Guide
2 Responses
Hi, My name is Sunny Lozano and I am the Marketing Manager for BarZ Adventures. BarZ Adventures creates GPS Video Tours that are delivered to visitors on our handheld GPS unit called the GPS Ranger. I found your article, and have some feedback to offer up on our GPS tours that we offer, which are quite different from GyPSy Guides.
We work with venues and destinations, such as National Parks, Zoos, historic cities and college campuses to create informative, educational and fun video tours. For example, one of tours can be rented from Vicksburg National Military Park, a Civil War battlefield in Mississippi. The device can be rented for only $9.95 for the day, and leads you on a driving tour of the 16 mile loop through the park. The tour is hosted by Terrence Winschel, the foremost Vicksburg Civil War historian and park ranger. It includes historic photographs, battle reinactments, full-color video, musical soundtrack and interactive media such as unique facts about the 43-day siege of Vicksburg. The GPS is used to trigger the content automatically as you approach a point of interest - it knows where you are and tells you a story based on what you are seeing! This is much more than just loading a GPS unit with facts and figures - we have former PBS and documentary filmmakers creating fantastic tour experiences for our client’s visitors to enjoy!
As I hope you can tell - this creates a meaningful experience that allows visitors to go to this historic battlefield and really learn about the history in their surroundings, the meanings behind the monuments, and the chance to learn from a National Park ranger at their own pace and time. Our GPS tour guides are not overpriced; depending on the location they run between $7-$25. And the experience is fun, entertaining and provides much more than just a map.
I hope this additional insight encourages you to take another look at this technology for interpretive storytelling - tying a location to a story with modern technology. I encourage you to rent a GPS Ranger if you get the chance and try it out for yourself!
That’s a much more reasonable price Sunny - something that is affordable that doesn’t seem like the company is trying to recoup the whole cost of the GPS with one tour.
http://www.gpsranger.com/