Touring New York With QR Codes

Gotham Guide has launched a QR code tour of New York City.

Tourists have always relied on guided tours to discover and learn more about a certain place.  Either that, or they go on a self-guided audio tour where there is no need for a human tour guide to accompany them.

The QR code tours hopes to replicate these audio tours, allowing people to explore New York City by themselves.

The six-hour tour covers an extensive area including Brooklyn Bridge right down to Central Park.  What’s more, these QR codes provide up-to-the-minute information for each landmark they are placed on.

Gotham Guide is not the first to employ QR codes for travel and tourism.  

QR codes have long been used in museums to provide visitors with videos and other information about a certain exhibit or things on display.

Arkansas have also posted QR codes around the Fort Smith National Historic Site, which leads visitors to a short orientation video or information-packed videos that were hosted by the city.

The City of Long Beach have placed 19 different QR codes on a Discovery Trail tour, which includes ocean vistas, historic sites and sand dunes.  Each code gives the user background information of the sites, as well as pointing out other sites that may be of interest.

In May 2011, the Hugman River Walk Tour placed QR codes along its 1.7-miles park, giving visitors the chance to hear an audio narration made by a local author and historian.

QR codes are perfect for creating unguided tours for your establishment and local community.  Instead of having big unsightly signs detailing the importance and the history of the landmarks you are trying to promote, you just affix a small sign and a QR code to it.  What’s more you would be able to give your visitors access to multi-media content, which would be much more interesting than just listening to a tape or reading all about it.