Refer Users and Get Cash!

by Scott Rock - 2/5/08 9:10 PM

Need some cash? Read below!

We just finished putting the final touches on the Geovative Affiliate Program. With the Geovative Affiliate Program, we will pay you $17.50 for each paying user your refer to GeoTours Premium. Now that can add up fast!

Here are a few other key points about the Geovative Affiliate Program:
  • Membership is FREE!
  • After signing up, you will receive your own unique Affiliate URL that you can use to direct users to our site. Each time a user clicks on your Affiliate URL link, we'll keep track of it.
  • You can easily create your own image links by choosing from a group of 12 images/banners and then copying and pasting the generated HTML code to your web site.
  • We provide you with instantaneous reports showing your number of clicks, number of users, and all payment history.
  • Payments are made quarterly via PayPal.

Sign up for the Geovative Affiliate Program and start earning today!

Learn More

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Taking GPS Tours to New Heights

by Scott Rock - 10/19/07 9:22 PM

Scott Rock, Mark Rowlands, and Randy Waldman

Mark Rowlands is taking GPS tours to new heights. Mark uses GeoTours Web to create GPS tours that he then downloads to his Garmin nuvi. But here's the kicker--rather than taking his tour in a car or on foot like the rest of us, he takes it in his helicopter! Mark already rents his Robinson R44 helicopter for movie shoots, aerial photos, training, and more, but he hopes to find a new niche for his helicopter--GPS tours over Los Angeles and surrounding areas. During a recent trip to California, I had the opportunity to meet up with Mark and take an aerial tour.

We put a quick video together showcasing the GPS tour here:



Mark found the Geovative.com site a while back after seeking a solution that would allow him to create and give GPS tours on his Garmin iQue 3600. GeoTours iQue was a perfect fit for him. After creating a tour and trying it out on his iQue, he quickly came up wtih the idea of giving GPS tours from his helicopter.

Since then, Mark has upgraded to a Garmin nuvi 350 and uses the Garmin TourGuide feature. Along with the TourGuide feature, Mark also uses the nuvi's MP3 player. "I like being able to play background audio during the tour and have the tour location audio cut in when we pass the location," says Mark. The helicopter has an auxilary audio input which Mark plugs the nuvi into so all occupants can hear the audio.

Because the nuvi is an automotive unit, it still has its quirks when being used in the air, such as "snapping" to the nearest road or displaying "Driving South" even though you're in the air, but these issues are easily overcome by changing the nuvi's settings. The other tweak mark has to make is setting the proximity to a much larger distance than would be used for a driving tour.




We at Geovative Solutions wish to thank Mark for sharing his story with us as well as for the sample tour. We wish you luck on your endeavor, and thanks for using GeoTours!


Have your own innovative idea for using GPS tours? Let us know and we may showcase it on our blog!


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Location Proximity

by Scott Rock - 10/17/07 1:35 PM

In a recent blog post, we announced the ability to set the proximity in which a Garmin TourGuide location triggers. We initially put this setting at the tour level. Since then, we've had requests for a more granular approach to setting location proximity. A simple example is if you have a tour that includes a mountain peak in the distance and a restaurant. You don't want to use the same proximity for each location. Instead, you'd want to use a smaller proximity for the restaurant and a larger proximity for the mountain peak.

Thus, we have recently added support to set the proximity on a location-by-location basis. You'll still see the same proximity field when creating a new tour. However, the meaning of this field has changed. It now serves as the "default" proximity distance for all locations in the tour. When you add a new location to a tour, the default proximity distance will be auto-populated in the Proximity field on the Add Location form (you'll have to click "More Options" first). If you wish to make that location's distance different than the default value, go ahead! Only that specific location will be affected.

If you want to change a location's proximity in the future, simply click the Edit Location button and you can easily change the location. Want to change the default tour-level proximity? Then simply click the "Edit Tour Settings" option in the Tour Options drop-down menu.

In adding this new feature, we set the proximity for each location to it's current tour proximity distance, so you should see no change in your tour's performance.

As always, if you have any questions, feel free to contact us.

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Enhanced TourGuide Support

by Scott Rock - 8/2/07 10:38 PM

We've just finished upgrading and enhancing the Garmin TourGuide download feature. Now, when you download a tour as a Garmin TourGuide file, you'll see the page shown below. From this page, you'll be able to choose from three ways to download the TourGuide file.


Option 3 is our original method of downloading TourGuide files to your PC to load using POI Loader. Option 2 is the new method of dynamically creating a GPI file that you can then transfer to your Garmin GPS device (more info).


Our newest feature, Option 1, provides a one-step process to transfer the TourGuide file to your Garmin device. This method uses the Garmin Communicator Plugin (which is also used to create tours using saved locations on your Garmin device - more info) to connect your device to the GeoTours application. Once Garmin Communicator detects your device, the TourGuide file will be automatically created and transferred to your device. Once the transfer is complete, you're ready to go take your tour!


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New Tour Features

by Scott Rock -

We've been hard at work to make GeoTours Web even more user-friendly and have incorporated some suggestions received from our users. We believe these features will be a tremendous help in creating and administering your tours. Check out the new features below!

  • If you haven't already noticed, the tour menu has been improved and turned into a drop-down menu. The left side gives tour options that allow you to perform various tasks on the tour, and the right side allows you to quickly download the tour into a format of your choice.

  • Within the new Tour Options drop-down menu, you'll now see a new option called Edit Tour Order. This option allows you to quickly and easily modify the order of your tour locations. Simply move them up or down, then click Update and your tour order is now in the order you specified.



  • You'll also notice two new options on the Edit Tour page. The first, Proximity, allows you to specify, in feet, the distance you need to be from the tour location when the associated multimedia is displayed. Once set, the distance will carry through in the various download formats. The second, Show Route, allows you to specify whether you want the driving route automatically displayed (or not displayed) on your tour.


  • Another update we've made is the ability to be automatically notified via e-mail whenever someone posts a comment to a tour you've created. Now you'll know the moment you have a new comment posted on any of your tours.

Enjoy these new features, and if you have any questions or comments, feel free to post them to our forum or contact us.

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GeoTours Mobile

by Scott Rock - 7/1/07 12:43 AM


Please join us in welcoming the latest addition to the GeoTours family--GeoTours Mobile!! GeoTours Mobile allows you to turn your mobile device (Smartphone or PDA) into a digital GPS tour guide. With GeoTours Mobile, you can import tours created with GeoTours Web. At each tour location, the associated media (audio, image, or text) will be automatically played. You can also see how far and in which direction each tour location is from your current location.

GeoTours Mobile is compatible with any device running Windows Mobile 5.0 or Pocket PC 2003. Integrated or attached GPS receivers are supported. However, a GPS receiver is not required since tour locations can be "previewed" without a valid GPS signal.

GeoTours Mobile is shareware. To download a free trial, click here. To purchase a full version for $29.99, click here.

Click here for much more information on GeoTours Mobile.

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Driving Directions and Routes

by Scott Rock - 6/24/07 8:42 PM

Ever wonder if the tour route you've designed is the most efficient? Want to provide your users (or yourself) with written driving directions throughout your tour? Wait no longer--the answer is here! You will now see two new menu options on your tour pages, Show/Hide Route and Get Directions (see above).

Show/Hide Route will display a route beginning at your first tour location and ending at your last tour location, with stops at every intermediate location along the way. See the screenshot below for an example. Remember that if your tour route isn't the most efficient, you can always rearrange the order of your tour locations by clicking the Move Up or Move Down green arrow buttons on the Tour page.


If you would rather have detailed driving directions to each of the tour locations, simply click on the Get Directions link. This will bring you to a page that displays all of your tour locations on a map and detailed directions shown beneath. The page also shows the multimedia attached to each location (if any) so you can see everything in one place!

Note that driving directions and routes will not be shown if they cannot be calculated. For instance, if there's one tour location in New York City, and another location in London, directions won't be calculated (unless the US and UK decide to build an intercontinental highway sometime soon!).

We hope you enjoy these brand-new features! Be sure to give us feedback on them via our Contact page. Keep in mind that these features will work great if you're trying to share your tour with someone without a GPS receiver!

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Increased Storage Space!

by Scott Rock - 6/18/07 9:35 PM

We've just upgraded and have passed on the benefits to you! Now, instead of 10 megabytes of storage space for your GeoTours images and audio files, you now have 25 MB. That's a 250% increase! And as usual, it's all for FREE!

The Geovative Team

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