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Touring
p/touringThe ultimate app for travellers, works literally everywhere
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Rohan Chaubey

Touring | Explore the world - The ultimate app for travellers. Works literally everywhere.

byโ€ข

Touring is a private tour guide available 24/7 wherever you are.
Built with 20% AI, 30% human curated content and 50% of magic ๐Ÿช„. Can be addictive, use with caution.

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Maker
๐Ÿ“Œ
Hey, fellow product hunters ๐Ÿ‘‹๐Ÿผ The team and I are super excited to launch Touring! ๐Ÿคจ What is Touring? You can look at Touring as your personal tour guide, who is always available for you and knows about any place on Earth. It's packaged into a handy mobile app so that you can bring it with you everywhere. โ“Why Touring? We started working on Touring to satisfy a need that we had while travelling: we often felt like we had to either buy a guided tour (which is pre-made and not entirely personal) or walk around staring at our phone to find information through articles and blogs. โš™๏ธ How does it work? Touring leverages generative AI, geolocation, 3D spatial information, speech synthesis and human-curated content to produce real-time insightful narrations tailored to you. Just put your headphones on, walk and enjoy. ๐Ÿ“ฑ Can I use it today? We're rolling out Touring bit by bit, and we'd love your help to refine it. Become an early adopter โ€“ help us improve Touring and enjoy early access, all for free! ๐ŸŒ Experience the Simulator Curious about our narrations? Test-drive the Simulator for a sneak peek. Remember, it's just a limited example โ€“ Touring's full capabilities are boundless. You can find it on the landing page. ๐Ÿ™‹๐Ÿ™‹๐Ÿ™‹ We need your insights! - What do you value most in a travel guide app? - How can we enhance your Touring experience? - Would you prefer more interactive features? Your thoughts are invaluable. Let's make Touring great together! Join the conversation and become a part of Touring's journey! Cheers, The Touring Team P.S. We know of a possibly annoying bug on the simulator: on iOS - even if you turn on the volume - the audio is not reproduced when you visit a location. Exiting silent mode (with the physical side button) solves the issue. Sorry, we could not manage to fix it in time ๐Ÿ™๐Ÿ™
@gabriele_mazzola great to see the launch of Touring! It sounds like a fantastic concept ๐ŸŒ I'm curious to know: what sets Touring apart from other travel guide apps on the market, and how do you plan to ensure that the narrations provided are not just informative but also engaging for users during their travels? ๐Ÿค”
Simone Colucci
Maker
@michelepomposo thanks for the feedback ๐Ÿซถ. We tried a lot of audio-guide apps but we were never satisfied with the quality. You're even more constrained than traditional walking tours, and the narration can easily sync off with what you want to see. Therefore we are basically investing on a far superior traveller experience. Also, there's a matter of coverage. Having a semi-automated supply means we can work everywhere and with every language from day one.
Simone Colucci
Maker
@michelepomposo the entertainment, on the other hand, is probably the least challenging part. We already tested pieces of tours online and our version scored higher than extracts from traditional tours, especially on the entertainment angle. Let's say GenAI does not lack in fantasy, and it's most challenging to limit it than to utilise it.
Timo Spring
๐Ÿ’ก Bright idea
@gabriele_mazzola Excited to see Touring make its debut here! The concept of a personal tour guide app that combines AI with real-time information is truly innovative. The ability to have a tailored travel experience without the constraints of a pre-made tour or the distraction of constantly looking up information resonates with the modern traveler's desire for both spontaneity and depth. The integration of generative AI and 3D spatial information sounds like a game-changer for immersive travel experiences. I'm particularly interested in how the speech synthesis will add to the overall user experience. It's great to hear that there's an opportunity to be an early adopter and contribute to the refinement of Touring. I've checked out the Simulator on the landing page, and even though it's a limited example, the potential of Touring is evident. As for the feedback: In a travel guide app, I value intuitive navigation and personalized content that learns from my preferences over time. To enhance the Touring experience, consider incorporating user-generated content to add a personal touch from a community of travelers. Interactive features like AR to bring historical sites to life or social features to connect with fellow travelers nearby could be exciting additions. Looking forward to seeing how Touring evolves and glad to be a part of the journey! Cheers to the team for this innovative step in travel tech!
Simone Colucci
Maker
@timo_spring wow, thanks for the feedback and the appreciation. I look forward to connect and see what you think of the app. Also, I'm glad you liked the Simulator, we were super worried it might confuse of distract, but we really wanted to give a taste of the immersive experience you can have. As for your feedback: valid points, and some of them are already in our roadmap. But we want to be lean and let users drive development, to see the features they want come to life
Simone Colucci
Maker
๐Ÿ“Œ
Thank you so much for all the upvotes, all the support and all the priceless feedbacks. We could not expect this level of enthusiasm and we are thrilled to move touring to the next stage ๐Ÿฅฐ
Maker
๐Ÿ“Œ
Hello everyone! The time has come to summarise what happened during this launch. Here's a few numbers! The launch on Product Hunt got impressive numbers! - 3000+ unique visitors - 100+ different countries - 18 different newsletters features us - 70% of you used the online playground - 500+ signups to become early adopter! - more than 700 upvotes and 200 comments on Product Hunt - a highly accurate model estimated that each team member has drunk 7 espressos during the launch day We did not know what to expect when we started down this road, and man, did you guys surprise us. Because of the number of early adopters, we've had to change our approach a bit to not sacrifice the quality of the experience for any of you. The team and I thank you from the bottom of our heart! Here's a personal short thank you video:
Maker
If you're not an early adopter yet, consider signing up at https://touringapp.eu What's next? We have already started onboarding some of you and we will continue doing so bit by bit. We'll try and give all of you access as soon as possible. Follow us on Twitter/X: we'll be posting updates and it will be the place to go for interacting with us: https://twitter.com/touring_app
Hiro - Atsuhiro Teshima
Congrats on the launch, Gabriele; I signed up for the access and tried the pilot version. The experience is great. I went to one of the spots on the pilot app, Batu in Malaysia, and at the time, actually, I didn't know the context and just climbed up and played with the monkeys(A lot). Haha, so Touring has the potential to change the experience:) How do you plan to charge the fee for the app? I think monthly subscriptions and travel apps are incompatible since people usually travel just once or twice per year. I also think this may be good for tour agencies to educate tour conductors, or tour agencies ask the tour attendants to install the white-labeled app, so they can enjoy the tour more. Just an idea.
Simone Colucci
Maker
@atsuhiro_teshima Thanks Hiro, love your feedback. I myself was in Batu a few months ago and got a similar experience. Loved the monkeys and loved the view, but went home with very few insights and highlights. We agree on the pricing, monthly subscriptions would probably not work. We expect to charge with packages, like you buy a pass for a day, for a weekend, for a week, for a month, ... So you get something resembling how people are used to pay for travel leisure. That being said we're currently focusing on the product much more than the pricing, and evidences from beta testers and first users might change our mind about this ๐Ÿค—
Hiro - Atsuhiro Teshima
@simone_colucci_93 Haha, I think many are experiencing the same situations. Thanks for sharing your thoughts about the pricing. Sounds like quite a valid idea:) I'm looking forward to seeing how Touring will evolve!
Maker
@simone_colucci_93 @atsuhiro_teshima Thank you Hiro, we're also looking forward to it!
Paul Gorval
Hey there, Touring team! ๐Ÿ‘‹ So excited about your launch. The idea of a personalized virtual tour guide is absolutely ground-breaking ๐ŸŒ I'd like to have more interactive features, quizzes or virtual tasks perhaps to make it more engaging ๐ŸŽฎ Given that it's all AI-powered, it would be cool to have an option to choose different character 'voices' for the tour guide as well ๐Ÿ‘ฅ Keep up the amazing work!
Maker
@paul_gorval Hey Paul, absolutely!! We have "gamification" in our roadmap, as several users pointed out that they would love that. And yes, the choice of the voice is something we wanted to have from the beginning, in fact we even wrote it in the homepage :) Thank you so much for the comment and the support!
Darya Skorokhod
Touring looks like the ultimate travel companion, love it! ๐ŸŒŸ What kind of landmarks or local insights does the app highlight? Perhaps, it could offer hidden gems or local culture recommendations to make the travel experience more immersive and unique. As a tourist, I usually try to find non-obvious places to get the city soul better instead of visiting popular tourist places ๐ŸŽ’
Simone Colucci
Maker
@darya_skd Thanks Darya! Our aim is to offer a highly customisable experience based on each traveller preferences. And even for the same traveller, it might differ from time to time. For example, if I'm in a new city for a weekend I might want to do the "popular track" of sightseeing, whereas if I have more time or it's not my first day in town I might prefer wander off the beaten track and discover hidden gems. To answer your question: of course narrating about major sites is easier and for the beta we started from that, but we're building to be flexible and help travellers find their own spots to love
Darya Skorokhod
@simone_colucci_93 that's a nice approach! It would be also great to have a future feature involving map tags or achievements for each city or country visited. Many travellers enjoy collecting these as it helps track their progress as tourists (I do that as well :)
Maker
@simone_colucci_93 @darya_skd Yes, I think some sort of gamification is a must have for Touring! I mean, just look at how it works well here on PH!
Shane Yan
This is quite a novel and interesting concept. Congratulations to Touring! Your hands-free, narration-driven approach to sightseeing is such an interesting spin on the traditional guidebook or cumbersome group tours. I'm absolutely thrilled to see how this evolves! However, there's one thing I'm curious about: how regularly updated is the information on the app? With so many changes happening all around the world, it'd be ideal if the app was as current as possible.
Simone Colucci
Maker
@dino123 Thanks Shane, you're hyping me up ๐Ÿ˜Š. About your question: in the current version of Touring the content is freshly sourced every time, so basically you get information as updated as publicly available. This is just for beta testing, than we'll move to a more efficient/sustainable content sourcing. But we intend to keep it very fresh anyway, something like every other day.
Simone Colucci
Maker
@dino123 that's the beauty of software, code it once serve it infinite times
Nevena Sofranic
How interesting! Is it in English only, and are you planning to add more languages?
Maker
@nevena_sofranic Hi Nevena, thank you for the question! Touring relies on generative AI and text-to-speech technologies for the presentation of the content to the traveller, therefore there is no limit to the language: Touring works with any language! And the exciting thing is that these technologies are getting better by the day, so it's only going to improve in quality!
Leon Novaฤki
Congratulations on the launch. I went through the simulator and played all the simulations. It looks very promising. I'd personally use this a lot because I dislike having to download different audioguides (or worse, apps) at every single tourist attraction I visit. Having an app that would centralise all my audioguide needs is a big plus. I'm also very impressed by how natural the audio voice sounds. Make sure to make a couple of options for the voice and I'm sure everyone will find one that sounds pleasant to them. One thing that is a concern for a lot of people is that some AI models have shown to hallucinate and give out false information. A tourist probably wouldn't be happy with the experience if they later found out that what they have learned is a falsehood. Aside from the misinformation caused by the AI, there is often false information that was considered true at the time and repeated by people who've heard it, but then later debunked once more archeological research was made. How did you tackle this complicated issue? I signed up for early access, I can't wait to try it live!
Simone Colucci
Maker
@leon_novacki thanks leon, I am truly hyped by your comments. Can't wait to hear your feedback about the app version. Regarding fact-checking: yes, that is extremely important to us. We have worked to be quite safe from hallucination, applying prompt engineering and retrieval augmented generation. We are not immune, as nobody can be with GenAI, but it's not something we have to fix ourselves: the best brains in the world are working on this tech and it's only bound to improve. Being safe from false facts sourced from online communities it's a whole different story, and there's a long road of cross-source fact-checking ahead of us. It's a common problem in today's travelling experience as well - I myself was given false information countless times by blogs or semi-professional local guides. So that's way more challenging.
Leon Novaฤki
@simone_colucci_93 Thanks for the reply. I understand that false facts are inevitable and too big of an issue to expect you to handle it, and I share your optimism on the global improvement of AI.
Anthony Latona
Very cool launch! Congrats :) Couple questions: How is the tour data verified for accuracy? I can imagine this working in big cities but what about smaller, lesser known locations? How up-to-date is the information? For instance, ChatGPT doesn't have up to date information, so the place you are asking about, even if it is popular, might be incorrect since it's old info... Anyway, looks awesome, looking forward to checking it out!
Simone Colucci
Maker
@anthony_latona thanks! For the accuracy we use Retrieval Augmented Generation, a technique that allows us not to rely on AI for facts. GenAI is used to create a story and a continuous and pleasant narration, but insights, facts, dates, timetables and all of that is sourced online. Which means it is as accurate as whatever you could find with several hours of in-depth research. And which means that we can be extremely up to date with the info.
Julia Suontama
Awesome work and congratz on the launch! I already have an idea of what this app is all about and love it so far. I'm a big lover of collaboration and human connections, so would love to see locals sharing hidden gems of their city or best events happening in town daily ๐Ÿ˜Š
Maker
@juliasuontama Hey Julia, first of all thank you so much for the feedback you've shared to us already over the past weeks! It's been extremely useful for us to understand how to best convey the value of Touring in a short time! We also love human connections a lot, and the roadmap for Touring will surely be affected by this: we'll totally do our best to make it both a tool to explore but also to connect, no doubt about that!
Tanjir Rahman
Touring sounds like a game-changer for travelers! ๐ŸŒ The combination of AI, geolocation, and real-time narrations is fantastic. As an early adopter, I'm excited to help refine the app and explore its limitless potential. ๐Ÿ‘
Maker
@tanjirrahman Thank you so much, Tanjir! We appreciate your support and looking forward to hearing from you about the Touring experience!
Maker
@olenabomko Thank you so much, Olena! We're glad you like it! ๐Ÿ™
Simone Colucci
Maker
@olenabomko thanks Olena!
Vuk Radovanovic
Congrats on the launch! Great product for everyone looking to avoid big tourist groups and want to discover new places on their own. I hope to see more places added to the platform.
Maker
@vuk_radovanovic Thank you, Vuk! Just a clarification: the places you see on the Simulator online are simply examples, and we just picked a handful of them. Touring does not have a predefined list of places, because it works literally everywhere!
Kate Ramakaieva
Hey Gabrielle! Congrats on the launch. I tried a similar tour guide format - it was prepared by the local guide in the Telegram chat, where the audio guide was connected with maps, images of places, and how they looked before. What should I say - I enjoyed the format, exploring the city at my own pace, and pausing for coffee whenever I wanted. It is so cool that now I can continue exploring the world using a similar format without limits! I'm traveling to Krakow soon, excited to test Touring out!
Maker
@kate_ramakaieva Hey Kate, thanks! I'm super happy to hear that you've tried this format and worked for you: I do hope you're going to enjoy the Touring experience and help us make the best app for travellers :)
Vu Nguyen
Love the intro, the humanity touching of the product description. I believe it's under validating phase, so the experience may not fully yet. Just subscribed. I'm a startup founder and product guy myself, so would love support the team for any feedback I got
Maker
@vunq Hey Vu, thank you so much for the comment. We deeply appreciate your help and are looking forward to ship the prototype version of the app to you!
Momcilo Stojkovic
Sounds like an exciting take on travel guidance with a personal AI twist. I'm eager to see how it evolves and will check out the simulator. Best of luck with the development โ€“ ready to offer feedback! Cheers to new ways of exploring!
Simone Colucci
Maker
@mocarg thanks! And consider us eager for feedback. We have a Early Adopter program in the website exactly for that
Neel Patel
@gabriele_mazzola What a beautiful video - conveys what is does exactly! loved those creatives as well. This seems like a solid app, I've added it to my list for when I visit other country/city next :) Congrats on the launch here, Team. I hope you take the top spot today! @simone_colucci_93 @luca_micieli @elena_bullani @riccardozoncada
Simone Colucci
Maker
@neelptl2602 love your feedback ๐Ÿซถ. If you're interested in trying out the app there's an Early Adopter form on our website
Halyna Kamyshanska
Uh, congratulations!!! It's really a magical solution! A great simulator through which you can get an incredible amount of new, useful and interesting information. Really addictive! Great job guys, thanks!
Simone Colucci
Maker
@halyna_kamyshanska glad you loved it. Keep in mind the simulator is just a preview. Touring app will be mobile, work wherever you are, speak any language and run in your pocket, narrating to you as you walk freely and absorb the magic of the place ๐Ÿฅฐ
Daniel Sudhindaran
Congratulations on the launch! This is an excellent application of AI. Could you share some of the most common use cases that your users have encountered with Touring?
Simone Colucci
Maker
@daniel_sudhindaran1 thanks! This is our first launch and we're aiming to get highly engaged early adopters from this community. But with Touring we aim at those situations where a traveller is in a new place, knows little or nothing about it but cannot / does not want to join a pre-made tour. We give them the ability to explore freely while being enlightened and entertained by a virtual tour guide