Geovative Solutions

Adventure Travel World Summit - South America

2008-09-02T08:10:00.001-05:00

Geovative Solutions CEO Lane Roney is on his way to Sao Paulo, Brazil for the Adventure Travel World Summit, held September 3 - 6, 2008. He is scheduled to present at a session titled "Innovation & Best Practices" from 10:30 am - 12:00 pm on Friday, September 5 . The focus of this presentation will be making the best use of digital technologies (e.g., GPS) and media to promote places and engage travelers. For details on Lane's session, view the agenda for the Summit and see Day 3, Session 3, Track 4.Planning on going and want to meet Lane in person? Send us a message through our contact form!

TomTom and Garmin Route Downloads!

2008-04-08T20:29:00.004-05:00

We've added two new download formats to GeoTours Web--Garmin Routes and TomTom.

Garmin Routes

Would you like to be automatically guided to each tour location when you download a tour in the Garmin TourGuide format? Now you can! Routes are currently compatible with the Garmin nuvi 7xx, 8xx, 9xx, and 5000, all zumo devices, and the StreetPilot 7200 and 7500. When you're downloading a tour to your Garmin GPS device, you'll see a link to download the route. Click this link and follow the instructions to download and install the route to your compatible Garmin device.

TomTom

Now you can download any tour to a TomTom GO or ONE device. Simply select the TomTom download format on the Download Tour page and follow the instructions provided. Unfortunately, TomTom does not have a POI format like Garmin does with the Garmin TourGuide Format, so the download won't contain any audio or images--just the location names. However, you can also download all the audio and images from the tour and load them to your TomTom device. Then, you can play them manually once you're at the tour locations.

Enjoy!

Sell GPS Tours with GeoTours Premium

2008-04-08T20:08:00.005-05:00

Need a new revenue stream for your web site? Now GeoTours Premium lets you SELL the tours you've created! When you choose to sell a tour, users can view all the information (locations, images, audio, etc.) on your tour page or widget, but they must purchase the tour before they are able to download it in any of our compatible download formats (Garmin and TomTom devices, smartphones running GeoTours Mobile, iPods, Google Earth, and more!). As an added benefit, users who try to download your tour through GeoTours Xchange will also be required to purchase it.

You can choose to sell any of the tours you've created and YOU set the price. Every three months, we'll send you a payment containing your revenue from the prior quarter's sales less our commission.

If you've spent the time to create a professional tour or want to capitalize on your current tours, sign up for GeoTours Premium and begin selling tours today!

Refer Users and Get Cash!

2008-02-05T21:10:00.000-06:00

Need some cash? Read below!

We just finished putting the final touches on the Geovative Affiliate Program. With the Geovative Affiliate Program, we will pay you $17.50 for each paying user your refer to GeoTours Premium. Now that can add up fast!

Here are a few other key points about the Geovative Affiliate Program:

Membership is FREE!
After signing up, you will receive your own unique Affiliate URL that you can use to direct users to our site. Each time a user clicks on your Affiliate URL link, we'll keep track of it.
You can easily create your own image links by choosing from a group of 12 images/banners and then copying and pasting the generated HTML code to your web site.
We provide you with instantaneous reports showing your number of clicks, number of users, and all payment history.
Payments are made quarterly via PayPal.

Learn More

Introducing GeoTours Premium

2007-11-25T17:29:00.000-06:00

We're proud to announce the latest addition to the GeoTours family -- GeoTours Premium. GeoTours Premium adds many features that can be useful in promoting and sharing your GPS tours across the web.

These new features include:

Tour Widgets - embed your GPS tours in any web page or blog of your choice. You customize exactly how your tour will look. more information
Mini-Sites - create and configure your very own Mini-Site with up to six pages to showcase your GPS tours. The page content, layout, color scheme are all fully configurable and up to you. more information
Increased File Storage Limit - GeoTours Premium offers you 250MB; that's 10 times as much as your normal GeoTours account! more information
Enhanced Tour Reporting - now you can see detailed information about how your tours are being accessed. You'll get dynamic, up-to-date charts and graphs depicting your tour statistics such as the number of views, downloads, download types, and more! more information
Personalized Branding - you choose exactly how you want your tours, Mini-Site, and Tour Widgets to appear. The branding feature allows you to choose the color of more than 10 page components and upload your own custom header image. more information
Professional Tour Creation Services - whether you need help with audio engineering, graphic design, copy editing/creation, or even if you would like someone to come to your location to create a tour for you, we can help! more information

We all know that GPS devices are the way of the future, and with GPS devices comes GPS tourism. GeoTours Premium offers you all the tools you need to create, showcase, and promote your destination through GPS tourism. Start using GeoTours Premium to begin driving traffic to your destination today!

GeoTours Premium is a paid service with a free 1-month trial available. To view more information or to sign up, click here.

Taking GPS Tours to New Heights

2007-10-19T21:22:00.000-05:00

Scott Rock, Mark Rowlands, and Randy Waldman

Mark Rowlands is taking GPS tours to new heights. Mark uses GeoTours Web to create GPS tours that he then downloads to his Garmin nuvi. But here's the kicker--rather than taking his tour in a car or on foot like the rest of us, he takes it in his helicopter! Mark already rents his Robinson R44 helicopter for movie shoots, aerial photos, training, and more, but he hopes to find a new niche for his helicopter--GPS tours over Los Angeles and surrounding areas. During a recent trip to California, I had the opportunity to meet up with Mark and take an aerial tour.

We put a quick video together showcasing the GPS tour here:

Mark found the Geovative.com site a while back after seeking a solution that would allow him to create and give GPS tours on his Garmin iQue 3600. GeoTours iQue was a perfect fit for him. After creating a tour and trying it out on his iQue, he quickly came up wtih the idea of giving GPS tours from his helicopter.

Since then, Mark has upgraded to a Garmin nuvi 350 and uses the Garmin TourGuide feature. Along with the TourGuide feature, Mark also uses the nuvi's MP3 player. "I like being able to play background audio during the tour and have the tour location audio cut in when we pass the location," says Mark. The helicopter has an auxilary audio input which Mark plugs the nuvi into so all occupants can hear the audio.

Because the nuvi is an automotive unit, it still has its quirks when being used in the air, such as "snapping" to the nearest road or displaying "Driving South" even though you're in the air, but these issues are easily overcome by changing the nuvi's settings. The other tweak mark has to make is setting the proximity to a much larger distance than would be used for a driving tour.

We at Geovative Solutions wish to thank Mark for sharing his story with us as well as for the sample tour. We wish you luck on your endeavor, and thanks for using GeoTours!

Have your own innovative idea for using GPS tours? Let us know and we may showcase it on our blog!

Location Proximity

2007-10-17T13:35:00.000-05:00

In a recent blog post, we announced the ability to set the proximity in which a Garmin TourGuide location triggers. We initially put this setting at the tour level. Since then, we've had requests for a more granular approach to setting location proximity. A simple example is if you have a tour that includes a mountain peak in the distance and a restaurant. You don't want to use the same proximity for each location. Instead, you'd want to use a smaller proximity for the restaurant and a larger proximity for the mountain peak.

Thus, we have recently added support to set the proximity on a location-by-location basis. You'll still see the same proximity field when creating a new tour. However, the meaning of this field has changed. It now serves as the "default" proximity distance for all locations in the tour. When you add a new location to a tour, the default proximity distance will be auto-populated in the Proximity field on the Add Location form (you'll have to click "More Options" first). If you wish to make that location's distance different than the default value, go ahead! Only that specific location will be affected.

If you want to change a location's proximity in the future, simply click the Edit Location button and you can easily change the location. Want to change the default tour-level proximity? Then simply click the "Edit Tour Settings" option in the Tour Options drop-down menu.

In adding this new feature, we set the proximity for each location to it's current tour proximity distance, so you should see no change in your tour's performance.

As always, if you have any questions, feel free to contact us.

Enhanced TourGuide Support

2007-08-02T22:38:00.000-05:00

We've just finished upgrading and enhancing the Garmin TourGuide download feature. Now, when you download a tour as a Garmin TourGuide file, you'll see the page shown below. From this page, you'll be able to choose from three ways to download the TourGuide file.

Option 3 is our original method of downloading TourGuide files to your PC to load using POI Loader. Option 2 is the new method of dynamically creating a GPI file that you can then transfer to your Garmin GPS device (more info).

Our newest feature, Option 1, provides a one-step process to transfer the TourGuide file to your Garmin device. This method uses the Garmin Communicator Plugin (which is also used to create tours using saved locations on your Garmin device - more info) to connect your device to the GeoTours application. Once Garmin Communicator detects your device, the TourGuide file will be automatically created and transferred to your device. Once the transfer is complete, you're ready to go take your tour!

New Tour Features

2007-08-02T21:46:00.000-05:00

We've been hard at work to make GeoTours Web even more user-friendly and have incorporated some suggestions received from our users. We believe these features will be a tremendous help in creating and administering your tours. Check out the new features below!

If you haven't already noticed, the tour menu has been improved and turned into a drop-down menu. The left side gives tour options that allow you to perform various tasks on the tour, and the right side allows you to quickly download the tour into a format of your choice.

Within the new Tour Options drop-down menu, you'll now see a new option called Edit Tour Order. This option allows you to quickly and easily modify the order of your tour locations. Simply move them up or down, then click Update and your tour order is now in the order you specified.

You'll also notice two new options on the Edit Tour page. The first, Proximity, allows you to specify, in feet, the distance you need to be from the tour location when the associated multimedia is displayed. Once set, the distance will carry through in the various download formats. The second, Show Route, allows you to specify whether you want the driving route automatically displayed (or not displayed) on your tour.

Another update we've made is the ability to be automatically notified via e-mail whenever someone posts a comment to a tour you've created. Now you'll know the moment you have a new comment posted on any of your tours.

Enjoy these new features, and if you have any questions or comments, feel free to post them to our forum or contact us.

Improved Downloads!

2007-07-23T11:30:00.000-05:00

Downloading a tour just got even easier! We've made a few key improvements to the way tours are downloaded which should make it even easier and quicker to take your tour offline and into the "real" world.

The improvements include:

Garmin TourGuide Files - no longer must you download the files necessary to load using Garmin POI Loader. Instead, you can directly download the tour's Garmin TourGuide POI file in .GPI format. Simply save it to your GPS device's Garmin\POI directory, and off you go! If you'd rather download the GPS Exchange (GPX) file and media files to use POI Loader, that feature is still available.

Quick Downloads From Tour Page - now, you can go to a tour's download page with one click by clicking the "Download As..." dropdown box at the top of any tour web page. From this dropdown, select the type or format that you want to download the tour in. If you'd rather choose your download type by looking at a list of compatible devices, then choose the "Choose by Device" option.

GPX Only and Media Only Download Options - if you want to download the GPX file or media files separately, now you can. Just choose the appropriate option in the "Download As..." dropdown box.

Easily Import Tour Locations

2007-07-02T22:27:00.000-05:00

We just finished developing two new methods to add locations to your tours:

Import from a Garmin GPS Device - using the new Garmin Communicator Plugin, you can upload any saved point on your compatible Garmin device to your tour. This makes it extremely simple to log locations and create tours! Garmin Communicator Plugin is compatible with any Garmin device that connects to your computer via a USB cable.

Upload a GPS Exchange (GPX) File - already have GPS information stored in a GPX file? Now you can simply upload the file to GeoTours Web and it will be automatically detect the locations and allow you to add them to your tour. For more information on the GPX format, click here.

For both methods, after the tour locations are detected, you will be presented with a list of them. From this list, you can select one or multiple locations, then click "Import" and the locations will be automatically added to your tour.

You will see these two new options on the Add Tour Location section on your tour's page (see below).

As always, if you have any questions or problems with these new features, contact us.

GeoTours Mobile

2007-07-01T00:43:00.000-05:00

Please join us in welcoming the latest addition to the GeoTours family--GeoTours Mobile!! GeoTours Mobile allows you to turn your mobile device (Smartphone or PDA) into a digital GPS tour guide. With GeoTours Mobile, you can import tours created with GeoTours Web. At each tour location, the associated media (audio, image, or text) will be automatically played. You can also see how far and in which direction each tour location is from your current location.

GeoTours Mobile is compatible with any device running Windows Mobile 5.0 or Pocket PC 2003. Integrated or attached GPS receivers are supported. However, a GPS receiver is not required since tour locations can be "previewed" without a valid GPS signal.

GeoTours Mobile is shareware. To download a free trial, click here. To purchase a full version for $29.99, click here.

Click here for much more information on GeoTours Mobile.

Driving Directions and Routes

2007-06-24T20:42:00.000-05:00

Ever wonder if the tour route you've designed is the most efficient? Want to provide your users (or yourself) with written driving directions throughout your tour? Wait no longer--the answer is here! You will now see two new menu options on your tour pages, Show/Hide Route and Get Directions (see above).

Show/Hide Route will display a route beginning at your first tour location and ending at your last tour location, with stops at every intermediate location along the way. See the screenshot below for an example. Remember that if your tour route isn't the most efficient, you can always rearrange the order of your tour locations by clicking the Move Up or Move Down green arrow buttons on the Tour page.

If you would rather have detailed driving directions to each of the tour locations, simply click on the Get Directions link. This will bring you to a page that displays all of your tour locations on a map and detailed directions shown beneath. The page also shows the multimedia attached to each location (if any) so you can see everything in one place!

Note that driving directions and routes will not be shown if they cannot be calculated. For instance, if there's one tour location in New York City, and another location in London, directions won't be calculated (unless the US and UK decide to build an intercontinental highway sometime soon!).

We hope you enjoy these brand-new features! Be sure to give us feedback on them via our Contact page. Keep in mind that these features will work great if you're trying to share your tour with someone without a GPS receiver!

Increased Storage Space!

2007-06-18T21:35:00.000-05:00

We've just upgraded and have passed on the benefits to you! Now, instead of 10 megabytes of storage space for your GeoTours images and audio files, you now have 25 MB. That's a 250% increase! And as usual, it's all for FREE!

The Geovative Team

Google Earth Integration

2007-03-07T19:58:00.000-06:00

GeoTours has been Googlized! You can now download and view your tours in Google Earth. Just select Google Earth (KML) on the Download page for your tour. Then click Open and your tour will open directly in Google Earth.

New Sharing Features

2007-03-07T19:18:00.000-06:00

Some exciting features have been added to GeoTours shared on the GeoTours Xchange. Read below to find out more...

Stats Dashboard

Now you can easily see your tour's statistics by using the Stats Dashboard. Here, you can see the number of views, average and number of ratings, number of times other users have added your tour to their Favorites, and the number of comments other users have made about your tour.

Share Tours on the Web

You can now share your tours on various web sites such as Del.icio.us, Digg, and Facebook. Simply click the appropriate button underneath the Statistics Dashboard and begin sharing your tour across the web! If you'd rather link directly to your tour from a blog or web page, simply copy the URL shown in the URL text field. Click in the text field and then go to Edit - Copy to copy the URL to your clipboard and then paste it whereever you want. The URL is a permalink that will always take you directly to your shared tour.

Note that these features are only available on shared tours. If your tour isn't already shared, share it today!

Images and Text!

2006-12-05T09:11:00.000-06:00

We've added some exciting new features to GeoTours--images and text*! Now, each tour location can also include an image (uploaded by you), a text description, and an audio file. This lets you share your travel experiences in two new ways!

We've also made some user interface improvements including an enhanced statistics view for shared tours, a scrolling tour location box, a Flash audio player that lets you listen to audio files right from the tour page, and a URL field that displays the external URL to your tour (with this you can link to your shared tour from any web page or blog).

Log in now and check out these great new features.

*NOTE: Image and text data can be viewed on the web, but not downloaded to a GPS device. Audio, however, can still be viewed on the web or download and viewed on a supported GPS device or MP3 player.

MP3 Player Support

2006-10-15T17:53:00.000-05:00

You can now download tour audio files to your MP3 player from shared tours on GeoTours Xchange. When downloading a tour, simply choose MP3 Player under the Other Devices heading. You can then download the audio files, transfer them to your MP3 player, and print a map of the tour locations. Use the map to navigate to each tour location, and then simply play the corresponding audio file once you arrive. It's that simple!

Any MP3 player is compatible, including all iPod, Zen, and Sansa devices.

New Features Added!

2006-09-20T09:08:00.000-05:00

Many new content feedback features have been added to the GeoTours web application. These include:

- Ratings - For each tour shared on GeoTours Xchange, any logged-in user can now provide a one-time rating from one to five stars. The average rating and total number of ratings are displayed on the tour page.

- Comments - Users can post comments about any shared tour on GeoTours Xchange. These comments are displayed in a list towards the bottom of the tour page and also shows the username of the person leaving the comment and how long ago the comment was posted.

- My Favorites - This new feature allows you to "save" a shared tour as a favorite. It then shows up on your My Favorites page for easy access to the tour.

We highly value your comments and suggestions. Keep them coming! You can leave a comment on the Feedback board on our Forum or send us an email.

Garmin nuvi, zumo, and StreetPilot Support

2006-08-26T12:43:00.000-05:00

We continue to enhance the GeoTours application by implementing support for additional Garmin GPS devices. In addition to the iQue 3000, 3200, 3600, and 3600a, tours can now also be viewed on the following devices:

- Garmin nuvi
- Garmin zumo
- Garmin StreetPilot 2730
- Garmin StreetPilot 2820
- Garmin StreetPilot 7200
- Garmin StreetPilot 7500

When downloading a tour, simply select the type of device you have and then you'll be able to download the appropriate tour and audio files.

Garmin POI Loader is required to transfer the tour to your device. View the Requirements page for more information.

Planned Revisions

2006-08-13T15:14:00.000-05:00

Here are some features we're currently working on based on the feedback we've already received.

Upcoming developments...

Currently, for each location on a tour, developers may create a title, designate its order in the tour, and include an audio file. We'll soon add the option to display text or an image for each tour location.

On the radar...

We will be expanding GeoTours to other PDA's and other operating systems in the future, so that more people can take tours.

GeoTours Beta Released!

2006-07-08T15:00:00.000-05:00

GeoTours is an innovative software application that allows users to create, share, and take GPS-enabled tours on a Palm-based Garmin iQue. Don't have an iQue? You can still create, share, and view tours online through GeoTours Xchange.

We would very much appreciate your feedback. Leave us a note at the Forum.