BarZ Adventures, a pioneer of automated tour guides, and u-blox America Inc., the leading GPS receiver technology provider, announced their cooperation in bringing GPS-based tour guides to a number of U.S. National Parks and Zoos.
BarZ introduced the GPS and Zoo Ranger, a revolutionary handheld device with an interactive tour guide for U.S. National Parks and Zoos. The device delivers multimedia content based on the user’s current location. The associated waypoint information is customized in partnership with each location, and tailored to site need and audience. The device supports multiple languages, and provides high quality multimedia content including; audio, video, animation and text. Using u-blox’ award-winning SuperSense® Indoor GPS technology, the Ranger supports guided or self-directed tours and includes features such as location-based information for interpretation of points of interest such as an animal exhibit or a statue or building.
"One of the biggest challenges for BarZ Adventures was to be able to accurately determine the user’s exact location, so as to offer multimedia content accordingly. Only with exact location information can the multimedia tour provide the visitor with the corresponding historical, geographical, or entertainment information. That is why BarZ chose u-blox’ high performance GPS technology," said Lee Little, CEO for BarZ Adventures.
The Ranger device is accurate within just a few feet. As users walk around, their proximity to an exhibit or park area will trigger ad hoc multimedia content. A ‘Behind the Scenes’ feature will offer users the option to learn more about particular areas of interest to him/her and will provide extra content on different topics.
"The accuracy of our GPS engine offers users access to rich, location-based multimedia content," said Nikolaos Papadopoulos, President of u-blox America. "This is a revolutionary application that will change the face of guided tours at large by enabling users to go through the guided visits at their own pace, stopping to learn more about special interest topics as they please"
-> GPS Ranger device showing video content on the Lincoln Memorial
Image: u-blox
The device rents at USD 9.95 a day and is available at the following locations: Martin Luther King Historical Site in Atlanta, GA, Vicksburg National Military Park in Vicksburg, MS, The San Francisco Zoo, Cedar Breaks National Monument, outside of Cedar City, Utah, the Dallas Zoo and Death Valley National Park in California.
View a recent ABC7 news report on the Ranger system by clicking on: www.zooranger.com
To see the device at work, visit u-blox at the Institute of Navigation’s yearly GNSS meeting, at Booth 108-110: http://ion.org/meetings/ or contact info_us@u-blox.com to schedule a meeting at the show.
Source: u-blox