An audio tour or audio guide provides a recorded spoken commentary, normally through a handheld device, to a visitor attraction. They also be available for self-guided tours of outdoor locations.[1], or as a part of an organised tour. It provides background, context, and information on the things being viewed.[2] Audio guides are often in multilingual versions and can be made available in different ways. Traditionally rented on the spot, more recently downloaded from the Internet or available via the mobile phone network. Some audio guides are free or included in the entrance fee, others have to be purchased separately.
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A multimedia electronic guide is a device specially designed to provide audio, visual or textual content to museum visitors with or without user interaction. It may also provide alternative content corresponding to different personal preferences. It may include accessories such as headphones, a digital pen and displays with LEDs or LCD screens.
These smart guides may be operated to supply content in different languages and accents, with different voice alternatives like (Man/Woman/Child/Native Speaker/TV Speaker/etc.), with text, with age group specific content.[3] They can be operated in several ways:
These electronic guides can provide the museum management with useful statistics and reports,[7] which may include tour statistics, visitor statistics, opinions, and other surveys.
A cell phone tour is an audio tour where pre-recorded audio interpretation for a heritage site or a cultural exhibit is provided via a cell phone.[8] Traditional audio tours require the exhibitor to provide guests with the equipment needed to hear the content, such as an audio wand or MP3 player. Cell phone audio tours leverage the fact that most visitors already have the equipment needed to take the audio tour, being their cell phones.
Venues may not choose not to implement the traditional audio tours due to the capital expenditures needed to purchase the equipment; along requiring additional manpower to distribute and maintain the equipment. Another reason is to reduce customer hassle, as far as standing in line or paying and waiting for the needed wands or MP3 players. Some venues also simply can’t afford enough equipment to satisfy all of their customers. In almost every group that visits a museum at least one of the members will own a cell phone. By implementing a cell phone audio tour, visitors with phones are able learn about whatever they want at their own pace. This is referred to as snacking on the information, such as (OnCell Snacking), choosing individual exhibits of interest to learn more.
Each venue is assigned a dial in number to market to their visitors. This phone number and the appropriate stop number, can then be put on a small sign and placed next the exhibit. Once a visitor has dialed in, they will be prompted and can enter the corresponding stop number of the exhibit they’re viewing, to hear the recorded content. Most providers will allow their customers an unlimited number of stops, with up to two hours of recorded content. These tours also enable the visitors to: fast forward, rewind, pause, as well as leave a feedback message for each exhibit or the whole tour; simply by pressing a number. Due to the number of cell phone owners and the flexibility in new phone plans, these tours have proven successful for venues of all sizes. Aside from just audio content, some providers are also able to stream video, and text message recent visitors with updates.
A GPS tour (using Global Positioning System) is an audio tour or a multimedia tour that provides pre-recorded spoken commentary, normally through a handheld device, for mobile applications such as walking tours, boats, buses, trolleys and trains. GPS tours can either be GPS guided or self-directed tours that provide visitors with location relevant content about points of interest along a route or within a destination or region. GPS tours are predominately for outdoor applications, but some audio guides offer the flexibility to manually continue tours indoors.
Using satellite technology (GPS), audio and/or multimedia content is triggered based on a user's location, providing location relevant information to visitors depending on who they are, where they are, and what they are viewing.
A GPS audio tour provides "background, context, and information on the works being viewed" (Fisher, 2004, p. 49). Recently, the Economist magazine stated that "aiming such services at tourists makes sense—since people are more likely to want information when in an unfamiliar place."
GPS Tours are often unilingual, but advances in technology have made gps tours for mobile applications available in multiple languages simultaneously.[9] GPS tours can be created by using a combination of software and hardware and can be downloaded from the Internet for mobile phones, often in MP3 format and are available from organizations specializing in GPS tour development. Some GPS tours are free, included in the ticket fee, others have to be purchased separately.
  | www.audioguide2go.com - AudioGuides2go.com Downloadable audio guides walks and tours for your mp3 player |
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