Imagine driving along the winding country roads (or motorways) and every so often at the side of the road or under bridges etc, you pass a small unit that downloads compressed audio to your decoder receiver that is incorporated into your existing car radio.

You are immediately greeted with an audio commentary that gives a brief history or (factoid) of anything of interest that can be visible on your journey. The device can obviously detect in which direction you are travelling.

Similar in some sense to the interrupted traffic channels we get here in the U.K, but on a much smaller scale.

Your own personal tour guide!

Additional advertising revenue can be generated by mentioning Mill Shops, Museums, Parks and Gardens etc.
-- grippit, Dec 21 2003

geocorder http://www.halfbakery.com/idea/geocorder
Still wouldn't know which way was your 'left' though. [waugsqueke, Oct 04 2004]

time travel radio http://www.halfbake...me_20travel_20radio
another idea [Acme, Oct 04 2004]

Semacode history http://dziga.com/eruv/
Mostly baked: NYC audio tour from your cell [Acme, Apr 27 2005]

Yes we have local radio also.

The service I am proposing is more personal to the commuters journey. More Tour Guide Style.

"On the left you will see... this was built by... in the year... for the purpose of... It stands at... tall and was a complete waste of public money etc etc"

"On the right you can see the local waste dump that contains thousands of tons of paper and card, created from thousands of trees that will never be replaced!"

"In the distance you can see the smog that is poisoning the atmoshpere and causing widespread breathing problems."

That kind of thing!
-- grippit, Dec 21 2003


A lot of touristy places sell audio tapes for this sort of thing.
-- waugsqueke, Dec 21 2003


[renfield] You're correct!

It's not like radio or cd/tape commentary, it's specific to what is visible on you're journey.

This would make journeys far more interesting and educational. It would make you more knowledgeable of your counties surroundings and your countries history etc.
-- grippit, Dec 21 2003


Perhaps you're missing the point of the annotations. The taped ones I've used *are* specific to what is visible on the journey. The only difference I see is the method of transmission, and the need for additional equipment.
-- waugsqueke, Dec 21 2003


But you cannot divert from the pre-planned journey on the tape/cd. This proposal lets you roam wherever and always be informed.

Go on, give me a croissant please!
-- grippit, Dec 21 2003


Right...and UB's radio service has that covered.
-- waugsqueke, Dec 21 2003


What's UB?
-- grippit, Dec 21 2003


UnaBubba. First anno, top right. Pay attention!
-- waugsqueke, Dec 21 2003


Radio Bubba is only specific to a town. It certainly can't point out the thing on your left.
-- RobertKidney, Dec 21 2003


Would it have translation frequencies?
I would'nt mind visiting Quebec but French would do me no good.
-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Dec 21 2003


I have seen this in tunnels but only for traffic info and no extra equipment is needed. This doesn't need extra equipment because as long as you broadcast on a frequency not used by any radio station in that area and your signal doesn't go much beyond the property you will be pretty much golden. +

Your only problem solving would be the length of the message, speed of the car and the interference from other land marks.

If you wanted to make it more complicated you could send cellular data bursts to a small reciever in your car and then it could broadcast even more locally on a certain frequency in your car. Much like some of the Hands Free Cellular Phone Kits.
-- sartep, Dec 21 2003


"And this is the street renowned for having the highest incidence of car-jacking in the world. Are your doors locked right now?" .... "Forty-two people were injured last year at the intersection ahead - it really would be worth your while driving slowly here!"....
-- dobtabulous, Dec 22 2003


The way to do this would be as a channel on egnor's Geocorder.
-- waugsqueke, Dec 22 2003


[dobtabulous] What a good idea! I never thought of the security/safety aspects of this proposal. It would be ideal (especially in America lol)

To be honest, I suppose this proposal will eventually surface as an add-on disk for current in-car GPS systems. (If it ever becomes more accurate?)
-- grippit, Dec 22 2003


You don't need much accuracy out at all of the GPS to make this idea work. Nice one [grippit], welcome to the bakery. (WTAGIPBAN)
-- krelnik, Dec 22 2003


Good idea, [grippit]. I had a similar idea in which a subscription service like XM radio could be purchased which would broadcast point of interest information specifically for you by matching your location via GPS to the tourist stuff you might want to know about.
-- rogerdna, Jan 15 2004


We have this in some of our state parks here in So Cal - well, we did until they all burned up last fall....

There's a road sign instructing you to turn to an AM station number, and a low-power transmitter repeats a tape telling you about local wildlife, fire danger conditions, etc.

Looking forwards to seeing the land this spring and watching the places I've lived in, hiked in, mountain biked in, and horseback-rode-all-over come back again.

I did think this was going to be about the history of the mobile as sculpture, though....
-- normzone, Jan 15 2004


There are major digital mapping companies such as Navteq and Tele Atlas that create the map databases that are used in vehicle navigation systems. I'm not an engineer, but the Points of Interest databases could probably be expanded to include a narrative of major POIs. I've worked for both companaies helping to compile and update their Points of Interest databases and actually proposed such a product idea to Tele Atlas about four years ago. I'm still waiting to see it.
-- mamakit, Dec 29 2004


As a habitual plaque-reader I would love this!
-- simonj, Nov 16 2007



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