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Just step up!
GuidePort The PERSONAL Tour-Guide System
When exhibits come to life,when visitors are so fascinated that they come back again and again,there must be something really special about an exhibition or presentation.And there certainly is:GuidePort ,Sennheiser s brand-new tour-guide system,is setting new standards in visitor comfort and flexibility.
GuidePort uses RF wireless technology to bring you the latest in tour-guide systems.
All the visitor needs for an unforgettable experience is the compact and light-weight GuidePort receiver plus headphones.
The receiver is a true digital communications genius .
As the visitor views an exhibit,the receiver will play crystal-clear hi-fi sound at the volume the visitor desires music,exhibit information,ambient sound,audio documents,you name it!
GuidePort can also be used for live events and presentations,where the sound from the stage is
transmitted directly to the visitor as soon as he or she
enters the venue.Real-time audio,such as movie or
video soundtrack,is transmitted in perfect synchronisation with the picture.And what is more,visitors do not have to follow a fixed route,but can choose their very own course through the exhibition at their own pace.
So much comfort and convenience will certainly
make your visitors want to come back!
Exhibits address the visitor Real-time audio is triggered automatically.
Visitors can choose their own route through
an exhibition or theme park.
Live announcements can be made any time,whether
for special events,a word from the sponsor or an
invitation to a presentation GuidePort is as flexible
as you want it to be!Of course this also extends to
the actual exhibition:re-arranging the exhibits or
assigning new texts is easy and straightforward.
With GuidePort s central system control and wireless
transmission,you can quickly update exhibit information or relocate the exhibits together with their small,
battery-powered identifier transmitters.
These changes will of course not affect the running of the
system,and will already have paid off during the
planning phase when there are usually quite a few
changes to an exhibition.
GuidePort will enhance your communication,and
help to achieve your communicative aims,be they of a
didactic,cultural or advertising nature.With
GuidePort ,you can effectively combine factory visits
and product presentations,sightseeing tours and special shopping offers,tours of workshops and normal
training No matter what you are showing your
tour or exhibition will come to life with GuidePort.
Centrally controlled information,always up to date
Exhibit information and location can easily be
changed any communicative aim can be reached.
Access all areas Please contact us
GuidePort has been designed for an unusually wide
range of communication applications and features all
those functions and benefits which are vital for:
Please ask your country s Sennheiser distributor for a GuidePort demonstration and judge for yourself.
We will be pleased to provide you with all the information
you need.
As a manufacturer of state-of-the-art audio systems,Sennheiser has been setting
standards in communications and audio technology for several decades.
GuidePort uses our award-winning RF wireless technology and is the latest result of our cutting-edge engineering and research in wireless information and tour-guide systems.
Museums and galleries Exhibitions
Guided tours in factories,companies,public buildings,etc.
Amusement parks and theme parks Shopping malls
Tours of sites,exhibition grounds,etc.
The GuidePort receiver:
a few buttons are all you need to set
the receiver to the desired language and
programme true ease of operation.
Comfortable and lightweight:the GuidePort
earphones are simply clipped to the ears and
come with your logo.
Ease of use also for the venue:the receivers
are handed out directly from the charging cases.
For large visitor groups,the receivers can be preset to a language and programme at the box office or cash point simply and quickly via PC.
The identifier is located near the exhibit or attraction.
It sees immediately when a visitor approaches the exhibit
and will automatically trigger the corresponding
audio programme.
The identifier range can easily be adjusted (via
infra-red with a Palm computer)depending on the exhibits.
Decentralised cell transmitters send the entire audio programmes to all areas of the visitor attraction.
The audio information is centrally managed and
distributed by a PC.
Further PCs for very large visitor attractions can be
added if required.
Unobtrusive antenna modules transmit the
sound to the GuidePort receivers.
Digital wireless information system Sennheiser GuidePort.
The goal of the report is to present to the experts concerned the idea and technology of a new sound information address transmission system and to look at its cultural and commercial impacts in the market.
High technologies are not a luxury any longer and are now becoming a part of every sphere of human activity. The GidePort system in the issue is certainly a result of high technology development, and therefore, it provides completely new opportunities in museum and exhibition businesses. With its help the visual impressions of the exposition can become live and supplemented with stereophonic music, verbal information in different languages and sound documents. At the same time the information transmission can be organized for every visitor individually or for whole language groups, age groups and groups of different interests simultaneously.
GuidePort was designed and produced by a German company Sennheiser Electronic, which was founded more than half of a century ago. Sennheiser is an engineering company, headed by professor Joerg Sennheiser, a world-known specialist in electronic acoustics. Besides microphones and headphones, which are very popular among sound recording professionals, the company produces special devices for hearing protection (with a simultaneous sound signal transmission) in aviation, audiology equipment, concert and studio radio systems, RF and IR systems for simultaneous translation and for holding conferences unique in operation qualities. Their distinctive features are functional flexibility; operation reliability and exceptional quality of the sound signal transmission. Sennheisers systems are being successfully used in this country in the Russian State Library of foreign literature, the Pushkin Museum, the Academy of Science concert hall and others.
GuidePort system was designed by Sennheiser engineers in close cooperation with museum workers and specialists in exhibition business (integration of specialists in different fields is very well developed in Germany). The designers strategic goal was to integrate sound context into a process of visual perception of the exhibits under the following conditions:
- the system will provide a possibility of storage and addressing transmission of sound data, and also feedback, that is collection of statistic data showing the rate of addressing to exhibits, exposition routes and sound information;
- reproduction of sound information will be activated automatically;
- a visitor will have an opportunity to choose the language and complexity level of the sound information reproduced;
- the hardware facilities will be easy to use both for visitors and for maintenance employees;
- the system will be reliable, easy to install, adjustable to any premises without major reconstruction;
- the system will provide a possibility of fast and easy input of initial information and program and hardware improvement.
So far the only system in the world that corresponds to all these terms is Sennheisers GuidePort.
Lets take a look at the work of the system from two points of view of visitors and of operators. The working elements of the system are basic computer with software, zonal transmitters with antennas, so to speak identifiers and personal receivers with a pair of headphones. The latter, elegant and compact, are given to every visitor at the beginning of an exposition. Standard modification of the device allows to adjust volume, stop and repeat reproduction of the information, and a more expensive one allows choosing other aim group and language. After choosing a visitors group by language, education, age, etc. his receiver is encoded for receiving and reproducing respective information. As a visitor approaches a stand or an exhibit the reproduction of sound information related to this particular stand or this particular exhibit starts automatically. If an exposition requires video review, seminars or conferences, the receiver can be used for listening to stereophonic sound track and simultaneous translation transmitted in real time.
The receiver is the final and the simplest element of the GuidePort system. Now lets take a look at other elements which, as a matter of fact, provide these flexible and comfortable opportunities.
I should note that sound information from one element of the system to another is transmitted digitally, at the latest stage to the receiver through radio frequency channels, at the earlier stages through wire channels. The same channels are used for transmitting control and service signals in both directions.
GuidePort Software packages, which are installed in the central computer (desktop or portable, PC platform) make up the systems base. The first package provides control of the devices and the database, the structure of which can consist of more than 30 parameters. The second package is in charge of processing the statistics of addressing particular exhibits by different aim groups. The third program package is meant to create and store verbal messages and music fragments.
A second important element of the system is a digital zonal (it can be also called cellular) transmitter connected directly to the central PC via USB interface (when several transmitters are used via USB terminal). The device receives, saves in memory and transmits through active antennas some volume of sound information related to a certain zone of exposition. The size of the zone, besides physical parameters of the premises, is determined by regulated power of RF radiation of the active antenna. Up to four sources of analogue sound signal can be connected to the zonal transmitter in order to organize radio transmission in real time. All the sound messages, analogue and digital, related to this particular exposition are transmitted to the receiver through an RF channel. Data is saved in its memory (size depends on modification), and respective information is reproduced only at that moment when a visitor is close to the exhibit. While passing on to another exposition zone the personal receivers memory is being automatically filled with new data.
GuidePort systems element, called identifier, plays the role of a trigger (launches the reproduction). This digital programmable device with a built-in transmitter is installed directly next to the exhibit. The identifier transmits a code (not data), which activates reproduction of a certain sound fragment from the receivers memory. Just at that moment the exhibit comes to life!
The operation radius of the identifiers can be regulated, there are even two modifications produced for inside and outside applications. The identifiers are powered by an autonomous source (battery, year of smooth operation) or by electricity supply through an adapter. The programming is accomplished with the help of a portable Notebook (or even Palm) computer.
Commercially the use of the GuidePort system first of all allows to enlarge the audience of an exposition. No doubt, it is possible and necessary to present differently one and the same exhibit to children and adults, experts and lay public, visitors and locals. A corresponding sound context is a good way to do it, however up till now it has been connected to a necessity to keep a well-trained staff of talented guides. By the way, the GuidePort system does not eliminate live sound recording, but it appears to be more effective under the contemporary conditions due to automation and precise addressing to the sound context. For visitors GuidePort is a personal guide and an interesting toy (receivers and headphones are elegant). The organizer benefits in real terms more audience will be positively reflected on the projects viability terms.
Besides the GuidePort allows to include advertising into the informational flow subtly and flexibly. For instance, information about the sponsors, who have financed the purchase and installation of the GuidePort for your organization. Subtly because the visitor can switch off the advertisement at any moment, flexibly because the statistics program fixes the number of visitors listening to a certain ad. Sponsors might not like it.
The first GuidePort system was tested in the museum of modern music, the Jimmy Hendrix Museum in the USA for three years. The museums profile and the review of the specialists show the high quality of the sound transmission section and efficiency of the system in general. By August 2001 two more systems were put into operation in the Mystery Park in Switzerland and in the tropical flora and fauna museum in Germany. Now spade-works are under way to install of five more systems in Europe, Latin and North America.
To summarize all said above Id like to note that computer control provides new very flexible opportunities for creating, renovating and interpreting information. Digital devices of transmitting and storing data allow to improve quality and reliability of the sound transmission especially as the GuidePort does not use moving mechanical devices. The open architecture principle allows to build up the system power gradually together with recoupment and expansion of the exposition. The installation of the GuidePort system does not require major reconstruction of the premises, mounting the elements (antennas and identifiers) is not complicated, the elements are not visible in the interior of the exposition.
Contact us.An English speaking agent will explain the system and may give you a ring. |
