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Maui GPS Guide Graphic
21
August

Maui GPS Guide

August 21, 2018
In Branded App, Case Studies, Driving Tours, GPS Tours
By lydia

The Maui GPS Guide (previously Hana GPS Guide) in Maui, Hawaii gives visitors a complete tour from corner to corner of this beautiful island.   Including the Road to Hana which has approximately 620 curves and 46 one lane wide bridges with almost all of it through lush, tropical rain forest.  In 1985, Craig and Charlene Henderson saw a need to help visitors learn about and navigate without getting lost or totally missing the hidden waterfalls, spectacular views, and rich history.  The first recording was on cassette tape and rented along the roadside with a cassette tape player. In 1999, Craig upgraded the tour to CD version for visitors to use in their rental cars. The original narrated tour has now upgraded again as Maui GPS Guide and is available on The App Store and Google Play for $7.99.

 

The Maui GPS Guide App

The tours are separated into 2 categories on the app: Island Wide & Hana and Haleakala.  Both tours are full of facts and information about the areas, they are GPS triggered and all audio tracks will automatically play as you pass the various points of interest along the highway. The tours guide visitors to waterfalls, sugarcane plantations, popular surf spots, a humpback whale sanctuary, bird valley, an arboretum, the Haleakala volcano (which sits on an 10,023-foot peak, the highest point in Maui) and much more.  As the app says, “It’s not necessarily the destination you’re after today; it’s the drive itself, with all the hiking, exploring, taking pictures, and just having a nice day discovering a piece of Hawaii not many people get to see.”

 

The Map

One of the extremely useful tools that has helped this tour through the decades is a detailed high quality paper map that serves as an advertisement in addition to the usefulness on the island.   The app contains pictures of this map and users can obtain a free copy if desired at a local gas station.

 

Interested in creating a driving tour of your own? Contact us for more information.

18
October

On Site Consultation for Historic Trolley Tour

October 18, 2017
In Case Studies, GPS Tours, Historic Tours, Tour Buddy Apps Plan
By lydia

Tour Buddy Apps helps tour operators all over the world engage and delight visitors.  Learn more about how Tour Buddy Apps helps tour operators here.

The City of Easton, Pennsylvania is one of Pennsylvania’s most historic towns nestled in the Lehigh Valley on the border of New Jersey.  With an iconic town square, wonderful architecture, canal boats, and so many family friendly attractions, the city of Easton wanted to share their rich history with locals and visitors on their free trolley ride around the city.  Not only does the free trolley take visitors around the historic downtown area, but also over to Hugh Moore Park and the Delaware Canal Boat Museum. 

The GPS triggered Tour Buddy App allows the trolley to provide a location based tour over their speaker system.  The hands free audio automatically plays and the trolley driver focuses on road safety and transportation as guests enjoy the tour.  Tour Buddy expedited the process of setting up the tour with an onsite visit to help the city of Easton launch their tour quickly with expert advice on timing of audio and training the staff to use the app.

 

The City of Easton Trolley runs their historic route on the weekends as well as several other routes to service the farmer’s market, a night route and trips to and from the Canal Museum.  See their full list of tours and so much more at Easton Trolley.

Interested in a site visit to set up a GPS triggered tour?







Gettysburg Tour Guide App
08
October

Guidebook Companion Driving App for the Gettysburg Battlefield

October 8, 2017
In Book Publishers, Branded App, Case Studies, Driving Tours, GPS Tours, Historic Tours
By Tour Buddy Apps

“The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but can never forget what they did here” -Abraham Lincoln

July 1, 2, and 3rd of 1863 are remembered by so many for the epic and most important battle fought on American soil, the battle of Gettysburg.  You can now experience and explore the battlefield at your own pace from your car or home.  Gettysburg Tours wanted to transform the typical history lesson into an immersive and self guided auto tour with action videos, stunning photos, GPS-triggered audio, and interactive maps. They accomplished all this using the Tour Buddy App Builder Platform.  The Gettysburg Tour Guide App offers a flexible and easy fun family experience for all ages.  Visitors can purchase the book, Experience Gettysburg: Ultimate Tour Guidebook in the Gettysburg Visitor’s Center and then download  download the free app on App Store and Google Play and use the sign-in from the book to access the full tour.  The full tour is only available to users who purchase the book.

Experience Gettysburg: Ultimate Tour Guidebook Package

The Gettysburg Tour Guide App is accompanied by the Experience Gettysburg: Ultimate Tour Guidebook written by Nicholas Wiley and Joseph E. Mieczkowski (Licensed Battlefield Guide).  The book/app package  combo empowers you to imagine the battle unfolding right in front of you with high quality content and an interactive app.

 

About the App

The 16 stops and 31 driving tracks are all GPS activated and hands free so you can keep your hands on the wheel and eyes on the road and sights to see.  These stops and tracks are packed with information containing leaders and soldiers in the battle, monuments and markers that honor them, artillery and weapons used, facts and figures, and a YouTube link depicting battle reenactment.   The Gettysburg Tours team also wanted to include local art in their app. Users will see beautiful dramatic paintings by Dale Gallon, a world renowned local artist whose art tells a history lesson in themselves.

See more driving tour apps and contact Tour Buddy Apps to learn how you can build a better visitor experience.

Cultural Roadmapp App
03
September

Driving Tour of Ireland’s Coastal Highway

September 3, 2017
In Audio Tours, Case Studies, Driving Tours, GPS Tours, Quiz Questions
By Sarah Pounders

Cultural Roadmapp was on a mission to transform the traditional road trip and they envisioned a hands free mobile app tour that helps visitors hear and see the best of their destination.  Using the Tour Buddy App Builder platform and the Gimbal geo-fence technology, Cultural Roadmapp created an engaging, fun, lively and altogether wonderful experience showing 10 different towns in County Clare Ireland.  Read about their award winning app, honored with Silver for Best Use of Mobile in the 2018 Ireland Digital Media Awards.  Download the Cultural Roadmapp App for $9.99 on iOS and Android.

  

The App

You can now explore one of the world’s richest cultural landscapes as you drive the spectacular 1500-mile coastal route with this hands-free, GPS-enabled audio tour app.  There are the spectacular Cliffs of Moher which stretch for five miles and reach over 700 feet at their highest point. There’s Lisdoonvarna: It’s annual Matchmaking Festival is a mecca for hopefuls around the world. Come with expectations for expert commentary, leading historians and folklorists, local musicians, and captivating storytellers.  Tourbuddy has used the latest technology to make it possible for you to keep your hands on the wheel and eyes on the view as you listen. You can learn more in this video: https://vimeo.com/221478794
 

About Cultural Roadmapp

This transatlantic startup based in County Clare, Ireland is on a mission to transform the classic road trip. This App is the first of a four-part audio tour series designed specifically for motorists. Deborah Schull is an award-winning writer and producer and also the founder and CEO of Cultural Roadmapp.  She had long wanted to do something to showcase Ireland. “My first idea was a guidebook and then I thought a TV show might be better,” she says. “Then I came up with the idea of a travel app and when the Wild Atlantic Way opened in 2014, I realized it should not just be a regular app. It needed to be an audio tour.” However, it wasn’t until technology became hands free and triggered by GPS that Deborah’s idea fully took shape. “That allowed us to create a fully immersive app experience,” she says. “Because you can use the app without using your hands and because it’s linked by GPS to where you are, you can look at the world around you while you learn more about it. It’s like having locals along with you in the car.”
Watch the Cultural Roadmapp Promo here:
[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kC67VRsck8Y[/embedyt]
03
September

ADA Accessible Museum Tour App

September 3, 2017
In Branded App, Case Studies, GPS Tours, Museum Guides
By Sarah Pounders

The last ten years of smart phone technology has presented so many new opportunities to make destinations even more accessible than ever before.  The Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary’s Shipwreck Museum in Alpena, Michigan has made its museum and boat tour accessible to guests who are visually impaired through on site displays and a museum tour app that can be continually updated.  Learn how the Shipwreck Alley App was created and how it is helping the museum meet accessibility guidelines.  

The App

The National Marine Sanctuary in Alpena, Michigan recently created a museum tour app.  The mobile app tour would allow guests to take a self guided tour.   The Shipwreck Alley App offers guests a self-guided tour of the Shipwreck museum as well as a GPS triggered outdoor tour on their glass bottom boat.  The vision for creating an app grew out of the desire to make their museum and boat tour accessible for people who are visually impaired.

Accessibility Features

The goal was to make the museum and boat tour a self-guided and independent experience for all guests.   After much research, the Marine Sanctuary liked the Tour Buddy App because they input their own content into the easy to use App Builder and they could integrate the app with ibeacons.

The ibeacons would make it possible for guests to be notified when they are in a particular section of the museum and hear audio about that section.  In addition to the ibeacon integration, the iOS Tour Buddy App is also optimized for accessibility.   Users can turn on the voice over mode (this feature only available in the iOS version of Shipwreck Alley) and listen to the app’s content being read, a key feature in iOS devices for users who are visually impaired.

Now, all guests can enjoy an interactive and self-guided tour of the Shipwreck museum.

Sightseeing Manchester trolley tour
20
July

City Trolley Foreign Language App Tour

July 20, 2017
In Branded App, Case Studies, Driving Tours, Foreign Language Tours, GPS Tours
By Sarah Pounders

Sightseeing Manchester launched a year round hop-on-hop-off trolley tour of the iconic city of Manchester, England this year.  They wanted to offer the tour in several foreign languages as well as English.  The Tour Buddy App Builder Platform allowed them to create and launch an app that includes the entire trolley tour in English, French, Spanish, Arabic, German and Chinese.   Learn about how Sightseeing Manchester’s new trolley service and foreign language app tour are engaging locals and tourists in Manchester, England.    

 

About the Bus Tour

Sightseeing Manchester has carefully planned 23 hop-on hop-off stops, so that visitors can choose how much time to spend at each stop.   Visitors can view this timetable to catch the next bus to the next stop.  Some of Manchester’s key sights included are Town Hall Manchester, National Football Museum, Museum of Science and Industry and Manchester United Football Club.  The English commentary on the bus tour is Dominic Monaghan, actor from Lord of the Rings and Lost.

 

About the Foreign Language App

Manchester is a hot spot for tourists from all over the world.  Sightseeing Manchester wanted each of their visitors to experience this exceptional tour in their own language.  Tour Buddy had the perfect app platform to make this possible for them.  With features like the GPS enabled map, offline audio, hands free GPS triggers and the ability to make automatic changes to the app, the Sightseeing Manchester App has helped visitors gets the information they want to know on their own language on their own smartphone or tablet. The languages in the app include German, Spanish, French, Arabic, and Chinese.   Download the iOS or Android at the App Store and Google Play.

You don’t want to miss this! Follow link to purchase your bus ticket.

Contact Tour Buddy to learn how you can make a Multi-Language App Tour.

29
June

Come experience the magical Sedona Drive Tour App!

June 29, 2017
In Branded App, Case Studies, Driving Tours, GPS Tours
By lydia

The Sedona Drive Tour offers an opportunity for a self guided visit with beautiful red rock views and great locations.  This mobile app tour is all at your own pace and you can spend as long as you like with the comfort of your own car.  The Sedona Drive Tour App for iOS and Android shows what Sedona is truly about.

The App

The Sedona Drive Tour App offers guests a GPS triggered self-guided tour with images, audio, a GPS enabled map and a journey like no other.  The app takes you to several vortex sites and explores what a vortex is.  Destinations in the app include Bell Rock, Cathedral Rock, The Chapel of The Holy Cross and so many more.  In addition users will learn about Native American History and why the rocks are red.  The app also features the “Best of Sedona” The app including shopping, restaurants and things to do.   Users can download the Sedona Drive Tour App for free and preview the LITE version and they can also download the full version for $9.99 as an in-app purchase.

 

Behind the Scenes

The app was inspired from an existing CD & DVD Tour still available at www.sedonadrivetours.com.  The Sedona Drive Tour was written by local Sedona writers.  Produced and Directed by Robert Berman he said,”I wanted to make a tour throughout Sedona, that was both informative and intimate, while honoring this very sacred land.”  Tour Buddy had all the tools and technology to help Sedona Drive Tour activate this tour for a new era of app users.