AN EXCITING new smartphone app for the tourism industry, PhonicPath, has won a prestigious local entrepreneurs award.
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The awards ceremony, run by local group IntoIT Sapphire Coast, was held recently in Pambula.
The PhonicPath app provides convenient speaking tours of local attractions, and by linking to the phone’s in-built GPS mapping, the “story” follows you wherever you go.
The award was won by the PhonicPath team comprising Dalmeny’s Jackie Stallard, Bega’s Carsten Eckelmann and Sarah James, of Merimbula.
Ms Stallard said she was stoked to win the award after making the journey down the coast.
“It’s a real buzz, I was really pleased,” she said.
“It was certainly worth it, it was very encouraging.”
The idea for PhonicPath springs from Ms Stallard's experiences running a gallery in Birdsville, a tiny outback settlement between the Simpson and Sturt Deserts.
“Tourists who'd driven the Birdsville Track would say, ‘it's just 500km of sand and rocks – there's nothing there’,” she said.
“And I'd think, ‘if only you knew!’.
“Birdsville relied on tourist trade, but struggled with short visitor stays because nobody understood what was there.
“I realised that audio tours could be of immense value to regional Australia, keeping tourists in small towns longer and boosting the local economy.”
PhonicPath will enhance tourist experience of local walks and drives, providing an opportunity for tourist operators, local councils and interested members of the public to upload content for use in audio tours.
These will be distributed to the public through apps for iPhone, Android and Windows 8.
A phone app will play audio content as listeners reach a specific location.
Visitors can choose locally sourced audio stories based on their interests and a variety of themes.
“I'm passionate about great audio,” Ms Stallard said.
“My motto is ‘entertain, educate, inspire’.”
Fellow team member and IT professional Mr Eckelmann said the project “really caught my imagination”.
“It can deliver themed and multilingual tours world-wide,” he said.
At the entrepreneurs event, the team presented to a panel including Mary-Anne Waldren, Christine Kaine of Business Angels, Mark Englaro of Sydney
Angels, Bega Valley Shire Deputy Mayor and Regional Development Australia board member Russell Fitzpatrick, and Natalie Godward from the Bega Valley Business Forum.
“The Entrepreneurs Seachange Startup Camp was founded by IntoIT to encourage entrepreneurialism and foster projects like PhonicPath,” IntoIT co-founder Liam O'Duibhir said.
“We say ‘don’t come to the South Coast to find a job, come to make a job, and while you're at it, make five more’.
“PhonicPath has great potential.
“I can't wait to see what happens!”
* Project details will be found online at www.phonicpath.com.