Farm tours will utilize cell phones as guides

Is it possible to create an accessible tour of north country agriculture? For a long time, Gary S. DeYoung, executive director of the Thousand Islands International Tourism Council, and Jefferson County Agricultural Coordinator Jay M. Matteson thought the answer was no.

Then they stumbled across the idea of cell phone audio tours, a new and growing technology already in use at museums, parks and other attractions across the nation.

JULY DEBUT EYED

Funded in part by a $6,250 state grant, Mr. Matteson and Mr. DeYoung hope to unveil at least a basic cell phone audio tour of Jefferson County agriculture by July. They already have started working with OnCell Systems Inc., Pittsford, on what is budgeted to be a $12,500 project.

Initial stops on the tour may include local wineries, farm markets and stands, Mr. DeYoung said. The program could ultimately be expanded to include interesting crops, livestock, farms and agriculture-related businesses such as Great Lakes Cheese in Adams, he said.

"One of the things we've been really trying to focus on around the county is how we can cross-promote when people are already here," Mr. DeYoung said. "This is an excellent way to do that."

LOW COST

Thomas B. Dunne, chief executive officer and president of OnCell, said cell phone audio tours have been growing in popularity because they're easy to set up and use. His company has been adding 20 new sites a month at rates that vary from $100 to several thousand dollars per month.

"There's been an increase in visitor service type places using this to promote their region and basically educate about and interpret their locations," Mr. Dunne said.

For each account, OnCell designates a local phone number. When visitors call the number on their cell phone, they first hear a general greeting and then are directed to enter a particular code for more specific information on a site of interest.

Mr. Dunne said tours can range from five to 400 stops and also can come in text message or MP3 form.

At any time, tour creators can log into a Web interface to change the recorded content or add or remove stops. OnCell provides customers with feedback and statistics on a regular basis to let them know which sites are most popular, Mr. Dunne said.

The company counsels tour creators to keep their messages short, less than two minutes, and enjoyable. Citing industry data, Mr. Dunne said that a good audio tour can result in visitors lingering for up to four times longer at a particular location than they would without interactive content.

"It relates to a better experience," Mr. Dunne said. "If people learn more about a particular region, they're likely to tell others about their experience."

For the past year, the Sackets Harbor Battlefield State Historic Site has been offering a similar cell phone audio tour though a company called Guide by Cell. The service costs the battlefield site $200 a month.

Site manager Constance B. Barone said the battlefield has 11 stops on the tour, whose numbers are posted on panels around the site.

The battlefield started offering the service in July. By September, close to 700 people had accessed the service, Ms. Barone said.

Mr. DeYoung said he hopes the new cell phone tour will encourage more visitors to linger at agricultural attractions, learn about local spots of interest from home and spread the word about the region.

"They might stop at one winery and hear the story of another or be at a farm market nearby and hear the story of a cheese shop," he said.

Specific stops on the tour have not yet been pinned down; Mr. DeYoung said the project eventually will include a Web site, a map of the route and more information on each stop.

If all goes well with a demo account, and if selected agricultural sites agree to take part in the project, Mr. DeYoung said, a basic tour could be in place by the end of July.

The only lingering concern is identifying places at each location where people can pull off the road to use their cell phone.