BarZ’s GPS-based multimedia walking tour guide for Dollywood includes a 90-minute tour experience narrated by Dolly Parton
The Queen herself narrates the audio
tour, so stringent requirements on sound quality were a must. “The royal voice is very well-known in Denmark and it was important for the museum to reproduce it at the very best quality, with no distortion,” says curator Martin Brandt Djupdræt. The museum had considered using directed loudspeakers, but couldn’t fi nd a solution to suit the rooms containing the exhibi- tion, so an audioguide system was chosen for optimum sound, and Pickup selected based on its sound reproduction and user interface. “The system works really well. The public fi nd it easy to use and are very pleased to hear the Queen’s narrative.” Pickup also plays an integral role in And
There Was Light, an exhibition showcas- ing work from Da Vinci, Michelangelo and Raphael that will tour internation- ally for eight years following its stint in Gothenburg. It’s the fi rst time that the three Renaissance painters have been shown together in this way outside Italy. The insur-
ance value of the original works is around 100m. (£82.4m, US$123m). The exhibition is totally dependent on vis-
itors using the guides, which are included in the admission price, in conjunction with Dataton Watchout technology. They pro- vide synchronised sound to video elements throughout the exhibition, a key part of the visitor experience.
BARZ ADVENTURES A theme park might not seem like the usual type of attraction to invest in guides, but Dollywood in Tennessee, US has. The park’s new multimedia tour guide, created by BarZ, has a strong selling point – park co-owner and country music legend Dolly Parton narrates the 90-minute self-guided tour experience, appearing on video to tell stories, share memories and point out attractions including a replica of her Tennessee mountain home and tour bus. BarZ has also recently created GPS- based multimedia walking tour guides for Santa Catalina Island, US and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain. Both contain maps, information on history and culture, and multimedia triggered automatically by GPS at points of interest; the Las Palmas guide, operated by Smarttour and aimed at cruise passengers, also contains infor- mation about local restaurants and tourist offi ces, and helps guide visitors through the city using public transit.
ESPRO ACOUSTIGUIDE/ PHONAK For the fi rst time, Espro Acoustiguide and Phonak are bringing interactivity to group tour guide systems. They’ve launched the next generation version of the Guide-U wireless tour guide system, Guide-U Interactive. Manufactured by Phonak and
And There was Light has a guide incorporating Dataton’s Pickup
distributed by Espro Acoustiguide, the new device allows not only tour guides but group members to broadcast their speech, a fi rst for wireless tour guide systems. Powered by Phonak’s MultiTalker
Network technology, a visitor-friendly pass-around microphone allows group members beyond the guide to clearly broadcast their comments to the entire group without changing transmitter set- tings, allowing for group discussions. Up to nine additional microphones can be added. To listen in, visitors wear headphones and around-the-neck receivers. Phonak’s Dynamic Speech Extractor
technology, another new feature, was designed to improve sound quality in noisy environments like visitor attractions. The original Guide-U system launched in 2006 and is currently used at attractions including the US Capitol Visitor Center, the Roman Baths in Bath, UK, Musée d’Orsay in Paris, France and the Guinness Brewery in Dublin, Ireland. ●
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86