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GéoTour 67: an Outstanding Technological Innovation
Made by Idéeclic and Environment Canada!

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Idéeclic, a company based in Gatineau, Quebec, just completed a truly innovative project for Environment Canada’s Biosphère, the environmental museum located in Montréal. The resulting product is a GPS tour (Global Positioning System), the GéoTour 67, allowing visitors to have a self-guided walking tour of Notre-Dame and Ste-Hélène islands, using a portable computer (PDA). The visit brings back memories of Expo 67, the World’s Fair of 1967, its former pavilions and its environmental and social issues.

The GéoTour 67 allows the visitor to display a map of the islands and theirs 26 hotspots. In addition, the visitor can click and drag the map and zoom in and out, displaying the tours for both islands. When coming close to a hotspot, the visitor gets an automatic activation of its related content and an audio clip. Text and images are available during the visit offered in the language chosen by the visitor. The latter also gets his real-time position and directions to the next hot-spot.

Environment Canada mandated Idéeclic, a company specialized in cybermuseology and design and development of interactive and innovative web-based products, to conceive and develop this interactive geo-localized application. This was a significant challenge because the PDA required a custom application due to the combination of GPS technology and multimedia content to be managed and displayed on the portable device.

See the animated demo. >

“With the GéoTour, we wanted an original way to bring people outside to discover the beautiful nature on the islands and the history behind them. The GPS technology combines its flexibility and power to an outdoor activity, thus creating a unique and memorable museum experience. With its various self-guided tours, the GéoTour is a highly competitive tool for discovery, interpretation and education purposes.

We are particularly proud of the high quality of this innovative product. I take the opportunity to point out the great work done by Idéeclic in collaborating to the design of the GéoTour and in developing all the technical and graphical aspects.”

– Jean Langlais, Director of the Biosphère

As soon as the GéoTour was available to the public, it drew rave reviews from visitors who used it.

“During my visit, I could recall the fever around Expo 67 and enjoy a peaceful walk in one of the nicer parks in Montréal. In a certain way, the GéoTour reinvents tourism, transforming a simple walk into a real visit to the museum. (…) The GéoTour will certainly seduce nature lovers as well as nostalgic people from Expo 67, and youth who will discover this exceptional site so rich in history. (Original comment in French.)”

– Jérôme Cliche, Québec (QC), visitor of the GéoTour 67

This application pioneers many opportunities linked to interpretation of historical places, cultural tours and urban heritage. Moreover, the exploratory nature of the tour, joined together with outdoor activity in a natural park and the use of a high-tech device will definitely be a great attraction for youth of all ages. With the GéoTour ‘67, the Biosphère offers an innovative interpretative tool and a real Canadian benchmark.

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