Travel Trends - Panoramio, Priceline.com, Offbeat Guides, Tripology, Google TV Ads

Google Introduces 'Look Around' with Panoramio - Last week Google, via it's recently acquired subsidiarity Panoramio, introduced a new 'Look Around' feature, which allows the visitor to click through images, view different angles and essentially take a virtual tour of the area. If this sounds familiar, it should...Microsoft has been showing off Photosynth for a year now...unlike Photosynth, it appears that Panoramio and Google have actually launched the product for public use. The technology behind the 'Look Around' feature, and Photosynth, is quite impressive and with so many images available via Flickr or Photobucket, the possibilities to combine hundreds of thousands of photos into one tour...of a specific area...could prove to be a powerful tool to further encourage travel.
http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/

Priceline's Sunshine Guarantee - As part of its summer promo Priceline.com...and Mr. Shatner...has launched a Sunshine Guarantee for your vacation. Book via priceline to 100+ destinations and if it rains (more than .5 of an inch) you get your money back. An interesting promo...that I am sure if valid in Arizona!
http://www.priceline.com/

Off Beat Guides Launches - TechCrunch has a great review of the newly launched beta of offbeatguides.com. Started by Technorati founder Dave Sifry...TechCrunch also has a video interview with Dave...Off Beat Guides combines online content, maps, weather, current events etc, etc all specific to your travel dates into a printable .pdf guide or as an actual paper guide (complete with your name on the cover). However, unlike competitor Nile Guide, Off Beat Guides charges $10 for the .pdf and $25 for the printed copy...which brings up a concern (as mentioned by TechCrunch readers) of selling Creative Commons and public domain content for a profit. Something doesn't add up there. Overall, an intriguing product and another example of print on demand technology becoming more and more prevalent.
http://www.offbeatguides.com/beta

Tripology - Launched a few months ago, Tripology, like Off Beat Guides, spins the online travel planning market back around. Instead of planning your trip online and breaking free from the dictatorship of the travel agent, Tripology allows a user to enter a travel destination and finds a travel agent to plan your trip for you. LendingTree for travel, I suppose.
http://www.tripology.com/

Google Begins Tracking TV Ads Via Google Analytics - Yes, more Google...but, they just keeping doing the right things to make our lives easier. Another post from TechCrunch summarizes how Google has begun using it's Analytics program to not only track you online stats and campaigns, but also TV ads purchased via Google TV Ads. As the review notes, there is not a direct correlation between online visitation and the TV ads, but if your goal is to drive traffic to a website, you can at least view the spikes and dips in website traffic after the TV ad has run. Add that to the fact that Google is now selling ads online, TV (with satellite provider Dish Network), in newspapers and on radio and you can begin to see how Google Analytics (and Google) will and could quickly become the centralized location to track all of your advertising.
http://www.techcrunch.com/

Creating Next Generation Digital Experiences with Dragable Driving Directions and Photosynth

Thoughts// If you've been using Google Maps regularly like I do, you've noticed by now that the maps have become more interactive and allows you to add multiple driving points and customize your route by simply "dragging and dropping."

Kevin (our director or marketing here) and I had a brief chat in the office today about the power of the experience we could convey if we can extend this mapping experience and marry it to "Photosynth." Photosynth (based on Seadragon technology) creates breathtaking "multidimensional spaces" with "zoom and navigation"...all built from digital images (Flickr, cell phone images etc.).

Building such a platform where consumers can play, build itineraries and then start a conversation with each other (and the brand) can make for a compelling digital experience that makes a vacation eagerly anticipated and fondly remembered. For a demo of the photosynth project, please check out the presentation below.

Travel Trends - TripWiser, Tripbase, Photosynth, Everyscape

TripBase - Another travel recommendation site, TripBase takes advantage of some new technologies to allow users to select what features they want in a vacation and then makes recommendations based on what has been chosen. A great interface and a good site, however booking your vacation takes you to another site (Kayak.com).
http://tripbase.com/

Tripwiser - Get travel recommendations from other users by browsing various itineraries and then adding trip ideas to your itinerary. The site does feature profiles, but does not appear to take advantage of them in a social recommendation offering.
http://tripwiser.com/

Everyscape - Combining Google Maps technology with a 3D world created by several hundred images, Everyscape allows users to explore various locations in a true 3D setting. Currently in beta, you can explore the Union Square area of San Fransisco or allow the site to guide you in the 'autodrive' mode.
http://www.everyscape.com/

Photosynth - A new project from Microsoft, Photosynth takes photos from a particular location and creates a 3D image to explore. A user can explore the vairous photos by zooming or clicking around the 3D image. (Note, there is some software to download in order to view this project. Also, it is very memory intensive at this stage of development)
http://labs.live.com/photosynth/

Thoughts// Both Everyscape and Photosynth offer very interesting possibilities of showing a certain location, the Grand Canyon for example, to a potential traveler...further enticing them to travel to the location.