SmartGuide provides guided tours through your phone @ CES 2020

PLUGHITZ Live Presents (Audio)

Description

When we travel, one of the things we always struggle with is figuring out what to do. We don't know the area at all, and we don't know people from the area to ask. So, we always end up on one of those "25 things to do in Las Velas for under $25" lists on travel blogs. But, there is a new way to travel, through a platform called SmartGuide.

This travel platform gives the ability to virtually hire local tour guides on-demand. The best part is that it recommends points of interest and local tours that might appeal to your personal interests. It does this based on places that you have been before, other tours you have taken, and other interest data. So, in the city of Las Vegas, one person might get recommendations for the best art galleries, with guided audio tours, while someone else might get a history of the mob in Vegas, also complete with a guided audio tour.

The tours on the app are provided by local experts and tour guides. While it might seem like the guides would be competing against themselves, in reality, it can be a huge benefit. Because of their business model, it is very difficult for a tour guide to scale to more people. At some point, the group size is too large for everyone to get something meaningful form the experience. But, by virtualizing their tour, the guides have the ability to be in two places at once, giving a meaningful experience to more than one person or group at a time, while still providing the quality they always have.

The SmartGuide app is available for iOS and Android, with tours available in many of the biggest travel destinations across the globe. To learn more about the platform, what cities it currently supports, or to apply to be a guide, check out their website.

Interview by Scott Ertz of F5 Live: Refreshing Technology and Christopher Jordan of The Talking Sound.

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Participants

Scott Ertz

Host, Episode Author

Scott is a developer who has worked on projects of varying sizes, including all of the PLuGHiTz Corporation properties. He is also known in the gaming world for his time supporting the DDR community, through DDRLover and hosting tournaments throughout the Tampa Bar Area. Currently, when he is not working on software projects or hosting F5 Live: Refreshing Technology, Scott can often be found returning to his high school days working with the Foundation for Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST), mentoring teams and judging engineering notebooks at competitions. He has also helped found a student software learning group, the ASCII Warriors.

Christopher Jordan

Guest

Interview

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