GPS Ranger, a multimedia GPS touring device with a four-inch LCD screen and amplified audio system from BarZ made their virtual tours more accessible to both deaf and hard of hearing public, by first adding a captioning option to the device. And now for the first duration, they have created a tour available completely in American Sign Language (ASL), a tour of Austin, Texas.

Susan Sien, a deaf school administrator and citizen of Austin, was one of the first to take the Austin historical walking tour. “The GPS Ranger tool was offered in both captioning and ASL. It was brilliant,” said Sien. “The tour highlighted

the landmarks around the city by incorporating historical photos and video. It was an awesome experience that will allow the deaf community to enjoy travel even more.”

GPS Ranger, other than providing their tours in ASL, additionally has the following features:

• Self-guided visitor experience
• Supports multiple languages and demographics
• Daily updates and composition changes
• Wayfinder or directional information
• Environmental and safety messages such as “Where are the bathrooms?”, “Don’t feed the bears!”
• Bread Crumbing data tells you where your visitors went while using the system and how lengthy they visited each location

Original post by Tim Robbins