Audio Tour App Detour Steers You Away from the Typical Tourist Traps

http://techcrunch.com/2014/07/30/detour/

by mtchavez • 12 years ago

62 15 12 years ago

nlavezzo• 12 years ago

This looks great - I was just in Italy for several and wishing for something like this, completely in shock that it doesn't exist yet.

I can't see any way to sign up for notifications when it's ready - or even a company website. I guess I'll just hope I come across it when it's fully baked.

andrew2• 12 years ago

Hi - if you go to www.detour.com you should be able to add your name to the notification (early access) email list.

ironchef• 12 years ago

Hey Andrew...another direction you, Yishai, etc. should / can go would be subject areas. I would imagine culinary/food tours would be great in the areas you guys are targeting. They could also be kept pretty fresh as restaurants/bakeries/breweries, etc. wax and wane.

chudi• 12 years ago

Nice concept, i've always wanted something like this, but here in south america and I suppose everywhere in the world, unless you speak the local language, for a tourist is pretty hard to avoid these traps and get to hang out with the locals.

Maybe the app will take the wikipedia route and let the people share their tours.

crazcarl• 12 years ago

User driven content on something like this seems like it would pretty quickly lead to routes popping up which lead the users to the author's "not a tourist-trap" restaurant or store.

VLM• 12 years ago

Maybe with some voting and metamod supervision...

james332• 12 years ago

My wife and I used an app similar to this on our honeymoon in Hawaii. We had the option of paying $300 for a guided tour, or paying $5 for an app and going our own pace. The app made that day one of the highlights of the trip.

hardik988• 12 years ago

That sounds pretty cool! Do you happen to remember the name of this app?

james332• 12 years ago

The one we used was called "Road to Hana GPS Driving Tour," but it looks like there's a long list of them under the GPS Tour Guide name.

smackfu• 12 years ago

Maybe I missed it, but does it require a data connection? Overseas, a lot of tourists aren't going to have internet outside of their hotel.

andrew2• 12 years ago

No, there will be an offline mode for our open launch.

pchristensen• 12 years ago

More good info from Andrew's blog: http://smandrew.com/post/93311039628/my-new-company

"We have traditional destinations, like Fisherman’s Wharf, but we found a fisherman who has worked there for 40 years to guide you through the working pier and experience a side of the Wharf that tourists rarely see. We’re also producing Detours in seemingly nondescript places, like Western Addition, or a walk through Bayview, on which you learn about San Francisco’s ambitious goal to recycle or reuse every single item we ‘throw away,’ as you walk from the aisles of a grocery store to the pier where container ships pick up bundles of plastic and take them to China."

faridh• 12 years ago

I've been working on a similar app called lamp @ http://ilikelamp.com

nedwin• 12 years ago

This is great. I love the idea of the salty old fisherman but would also love to see comedians, artists and amateur historians.

Ricky Gervais' tour of the Vatican, Louis CK's tour of Brooklyn. Rev share for the artists.

clutchski• 12 years ago

Louis CK is from Mass and lives in Manhattan, so his Brooklyn tour is probably not what you're looking for.

Audio Tour App Detour Steers You Away from the Typical Tourist Traps

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