Article from the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle
Author: David Tyler

December 14, 2006 A few years ago, Thomas Dunne stood in line at a museum waiting to pick up one of those tape players that provide patrons an audio tour of an exhibit. Because of heavy demand, all the players were checked out. The wait got Dunne thinking.

"I thought there ought to be a way I could use my cell phone for this," he said. "There should be a number I could dial to hear the tour."

And so the kernel of a business plan was formed.

Now Dunne has formed GeoPoint Systems, a startup that aims to provide cell phone audio tours at museums, zoos, national parks and anyplace else that might want them. The young company is signing its first clients and will move into new offices in Pittsford next month. It also is seeking private investment, Dunne said.

The idea is to host the tours on GeoPoint's servers using the Voice over Internet Protocol system. Customers can choose to produce their own tours or work with GeoPoint to design one.

Phone users would then be able to call an 800 number, punch in their credit card and take a tour.

The system eliminates the need to have patrons wait for a tape recorder if all are checked out. And a tour doesn't have to be limited to just the length of a tape. If customers want, they can use the phone to drill deeper into a topic, Dunne said. And customers can hang up and call back.

"They can dial in as many times as they want," he said.

Dunne previously helped found VoicePort, a provider of interactive voice response systems. IVRs are automated attendants that answer the phones at some businesses.

GeoPoint isn't the only company doing this sort of thing. Spatial Adventures in Ashburn, Va., launched its first tours in 2004. Clients include the Boston Zoo and Minute Man National Park. Another company offers a tour of downtown Boston narrated by Aerosmith singer Steven Tyler.

Spatial Adventures' chief technology officer, Mike Giniger, said there are a lot of potential customers for businesses such as his to deal with.

"There are 8,000 museums in the U.S.," Giniger said. Previously, cost was a barrier to those museums adding audio tours, but cell phone systems cut costs dramatically, he said.

And while some museums are hesitant to let cell phones into their premises, Giniger said his company has been encouraging clients to think of today's cell-phone-proficient teens as the next generation of customers.

"If you don't catch them where they live, you'll lose them, perhaps for good," he said.

Dunne is optimistic about the potential. Museums and zoos may be just a starting point. The technology could work for college tours, real estate listings, even perhaps educational games for children during long car trips. Other applications will come as options such as GPS systems become more prevalent in phones.

"There are so many little niches out there," he said. "I think what will happen is we'll all end up finding our niche."