Ryan Stuart, explore's gear editor

Interpreter in the palm of a hand

• Posted on July 15, 2008 at 3:21 PM
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I hate group tours. I just don't have the patience for them. They always move way to slowly except when they get to the parts that I think are interesting and then "we have to keep moving" because everyone was asking meaningless questions earlier. That's why I'm encouraged by a recent trend towards personal interpreters.

These are advancements on the museum and art gallery recorded tours that link to numbers or spots in the museum and recount bits of information. I like these because I can skip the parts that I find boring and relisten to the important bits. Now companies are tying this idea to GPS technology. Gypsy Guide, (www.gpstourscanada.com)[www.gpstourscanada.com] a company based in Banff, has driving tours all over western Canada linked to a dash mounted GPS. The units play prerecorded information about the history and culture of different places along the major tourist routes on the car stereo. They even go so far as to recommend up coming diversions and attractions.

Now Parks Canada is coming up with its own twist on the interpretive program. Parks has two GPS enabled interpretive programs at two east coast parks as part of a pilot project. Here's the full news release. I can't wait to check it out.

*Hikers can get a taste of technology on the trails at two Parks Canada sites this summer when they try out cutting-edge, multimedia GPS devices aimed at enhancing their learning and overall experience.

These new handheld, location-based devices, called Explora, are being piloted at Signal Hill National Historic Site of Canada, in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Kejimkujik National Park and National Historic Site of Canada, in Nova Scotia. As visitors hike with Explora they will be able to see their location on a map and interact with location-related text, images, sound, video and quizzes.

“I’m very excited about the potential that the application of GPS technology brings to visitors of Canada’s national parks and national historic sites,” said Alan Latourelle, Parks Canada’s Chief Executive Officer. “These pilot projects are among the first of their kind in North America. We feel that this innovative technology will appeal to our existing visitors and will attract new audiences, especially young, technologically savvy Canadians.”

From July 8 to September 15, visitors to Signal Hill National Historic Site will use Explora to discover the historical and natural landscapes of two spectacular coastal trails, the North Head Trail and the Burma Road to Ladies’ Lookout Trail.

Between July 14 and September 15, visitors will be able to use Explora at Kejimkujik National Park and National Historic Site to learn about the flora and fauna of the popular Beech Grove Trail and the Mi’kmaq relationship with the landscape.

This pilot project will be evaluated throughout the summer to assess its potential for enhancing visitor experience and learning. The results of this evaluation will inform the future use of location-based technology at Parks Canada.*