One of the very first apps for Google Glass is called 'Field Trip' and some are calling it the future of guided tours - but is that really true? Here's a quick look at 'Field Trip' and how it relates to the guided tour management software.
Guided Tours #ThroughGlass
Google's sometimes controversial new wearable device called "Glass" has a problem - a lack of purpose build applications. Unlike the Apple's iPhone and Android mobile phones, which each have millions of different apps available, Glass has less than ten. The eleventh Glass app was launched today, which may be of interest to those who work in the guided tour industry. The newest Glass app makes a virtual guided tour of wherever it is you happen to be...no human tour guided needed.
The company that makes the Field Trip has had their product available for mobile phones for more than a year, but it's Glass unique feature of being in one's field of vision that is causing a stir. CNet's Seth Rosenblatt explains:
Guided tours just got a lot more hands-free, as the Field Trip app that overlays interesting and cool facts about your immediate surroundings scoots over to Google Glass.
Already on Android and iOS, Field Trip's Glassware app offers a stripped-down version of the app, but with the benefit of freeing you from having to look at your phone.
Field Trip lets you know when you've encountered a place of interest, in the upper right corner of Glass, and you can have them read to you. They also let you peer into a building and do some rudimentary exploring before you commit to going inside.
"The long-term vision is the real version of augmented reality, this deep knowledge of your environment without having to do any work," Hanke said. You can toggle from the phone app more detailed settings, such as how often you want to be alerted to places of potential interest, or if you only want historical sites or locations with discounts.
Reading the description of the 'Field Trip' app one could be forgiven for thinking the elimination of the human tour guide is a foregone conclusion. However, the harsh reality in newly launched virtual reality is that Glass cannot tell a story outside the context of its intended programming. All Google Glass apps use the GPS coordinates of where the eye-wear is located and cross reference that information with static databases like Wikipedia and Zagat restaurant reviews. Only human tour guides can covey the value of a locale, historical facts, and ancillary data relative to the tour guests and weave it all into a rich experience.
In addition to the storytelling advantage human guides have over Google Glass and the 'Field Trip' app, tour operators can tailor a tour experience especially for the guests in attendance. Far in the future Glass and Google's complex information retrieval algorithm may catch up, but for now, it's people first, Glass second.
ThunderTix Guided Tour Management Software
It is important to remember that Google Glass is still in its very early development stage and will not be available to the public until late in 2014. Whether or not the Field Trip app really is the future of sightseeing is up for debate, but in the meantime, ThunderTix has what hard working guided tour operators need right now!
We have the tools that can keep pace with your busy schedule of daily tours and those tools must be able to adapt to special circumstances like a holiday rush. ThunderTix guided tour management software is powerful yet easy-to-use so you can focus on your business. Creating memorable experiences is your area of expertise – let us show you ours.