June 2010 -You may not recognize Armand Gilbert, but if you take the Downtown Encinitas MainStreet Association’s historic walking tour, then you get a sense of his work.
He’s been a resident for the past 17 years but recently decided to move a little further north. His work still brings him to Encinitas. “I like the community,” he said. “Quality of life not quantity of life is the key.”
Gilbert demystified the technology behind the walking tour’s virtual capability. His assurances that the technology is not complicated to use were validated during the inaugural tour last month.
There are multiple formats, including printing out a map of the historical sites with the text, so that people of all technological abilities can participate.
“We want it to be as easy to implement as possible,” he said. You don’t have to be Steve Jobs or Bill Gates to operate the interactive technology that makes the tour innovative. “We loaded some Mp3 players for people to use that work quite well,” Gilbert said.
Soon, it may be as simple as pointing your cell phone at the horizon to find information on the location on the historic walking tour.
“The technology is in a state of flux, it’s changing constantly,” Gilbert said. “Currently, I can see in the future that GPS will be available to help guide those on the tour.”
At this point in the technology, functionality varies from tool to tool according to Gilbert. Open-source is the way of the future, so that systems are easily transferable and application is more user-friendly.
“Standards will migrate and the walking tour will improve,” he said. The tour also allows collaboration, so that users can add points on the tour and modify text. “We’re open for all sorts of suggestions,” Gilbert said.
“We’re really representing what makes the community special,” Gilbert said of DEMA’s historic walking tour. “We also want to preserve that identity.”
For more information on the historic walking tour or to make a suggestion, call the DEMA office at: 760-943-1950.
