Local Tourist Guide in a (Linux) Box

Andrew Sealey writes "Antenna Audio, the largest heritage and tourism interpretation company has just licensed a location-based media platform and associated linux portable media device from a UK company called Node to enable them to do some pretty cool stuff with traditional tourist attractions. People will hire the linux based device at their entry point and then as they walk around and explore the attraction the device will search huge archives of rich media video and audio dependent on who a user is, where they are and what they are looking at. Their top sites in the US are places such as Alcatraz, MoMA in New York and Elvis Presley Graceland's property and the rumour is that Elvis's property may be one of the first to be converted to this new technology."

Comments

Gadgetry

[Emporerx]

I'm a gadget guy, so this caught my interest with a quickness. From a quick look at the site I'm just wondering...
Could there be some kind of GPS tech. involved where if you want to go to a specific exhibit in the museum it directs you that way from your current location. On a more mundane but no less important note, this would also be useful finding the restroom facilities at the game.(Important after a couple of beers)

These are the thoughts that keep me out of the really good schools I guess.

I recently went to Alcatraz...

[Atario]

...and I just hope they make them less restrictive than the current audio-tour players. They were ok in most respects, except that it was not possible to rewind beyond the most recent "checkpoint" on the tour. Missed the end of that bit? Sorry, gotta keep the turnover up...keep moving!

Besides that, I think it would be rather distracting from the real-life thing you're there to see to have to devote a lot of eyeball time to watching a tiny screen. Much better would be some sort of head-mounted heads-up display overlaid on whatever you're looking at (inertial orientation sensors?). Circles and arrows (and an audio paragraph describing what each one is (thanks Arlo)) would actually be quite an improvement over the clunky method in the audio-only tour: "Now walk toward the door, away from A and B block, and stop at the windows on the right..." Sheesh.

Come to that point, it would probably be simpler to have wireless headphones fed from a roving tour robot, with a high-mounted screen to watch suplemental materials on, and a laser pointer to...well, point things out. This would actually be better than regular human tour guides, as competing tour groups would wind up competing with each other for sound.

Unless maybe you just give the human tour guide a corresponding headset mic and a laser pointer. Then all you're missing is the actual supplemental video. Hmmm.

Re:I recently went to Alcatraz...

[John_Booty]

Sign Your Idea May Be A Little Too Complex #984:

It contains the phrase "it would probably be simpler to have wireless headphones fed from a roving tour robot"

Re:privacy

[Adrilla]

That sounds a bit more paranoid than I believe. I think it's a good idea, to allow guided tours without needing a human drag you around and bore you with sections of the tour you don't care about and allows you to linger on exhibits you like. Plus the venue could allow the tour to be in your native language which is a huge upside. Overall, I like the idea and I see it as having a lot of potential.