June 7, 2005
Venice Goes Mobile with Wi-Fi Walking Tours
History Unwired, a collaboration between MIT and the University of Architecture Venice (IUAV), is a walking tour project using video-equipped cell phones, PDAs, and location-based technology to deliver multimedia tours of lesser-known Venetian neighborhoods. [via Metropolis Magazine]
"The mobile information system will not only provide visitors with a truer taste of the city, but also, organizers hope, create technology and content-production jobs for residents, luring them to stay.
Starting June 12 (the opening day of the Venice Biennale), visitors will be able to check out the phones and spend up to two hours exploring local restaurants, hangouts, and places of interest. The devices will also be equipped with a virtual video component that will allow users to peek into select houses and businesses in the city's Castello district, as well as with mapping and GPS functions that will encourage exploration of side streets and back alleys.
Five real-life Venetians will narrate the audio portion of the tour, offering humorous, gossipy, and intimate stories about the city's visual landscape and livability issues."
Other blogged walking tours
-- Celebs Lead Local Walking Tours in NY and Boston
-- Talking Street pioneered the first cell-phone walking tour
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