Guided Tours

What it is

A Guided Tour takes users on a walk through a place, one stop at a time. You decide the route and write the narration for each stop. When a user gets close to a stop, the app notices and starts playing the audio automatically — so the experience unfolds as they move.

When it fits

Guided Tours work best when the route is part of the story — when being in a specific place makes the content richer than it would be anywhere else. Some shapes this can take:

• A neighbourhood walk built around a single theme — street art, local food history, hidden courtyards, people who shaped the area

• A heritage trail where each stop connects to a larger story unfolding across the route

• A nature or landscape walk where the environment itself is what you're narrating

• A city introduction that gives visitors genuine context, not just a list of what to look at

If you find yourself writing narration that could play anywhere — content that doesn't depend on being in that exact spot — a Guided Tour probably isn't the right fit.

What makes it work well

Every stop should earn its place.

The narration and the location should be inseparable. Ask yourself: why here, specifically? If the audio could play anywhere, the stop doesn't belong on the route.

Tell a story, don't just inform.

The best tours have a thread running through them — a perspective, a question, a character — that connects all the stops into something bigger than a list of facts. Users should feel like they're on a journey, not visiting a Wikipedia article.

Think about the physical experience.

How long is the walk between stops? How long does each narration run? Where can people pause and look around? A stop every few minutes feels rushed. A 15-minute gap loses people. Try to walk your own route before you publish it.

Six strong stops beats twelve thin ones.

It's tempting to add more. Resist it. Every stop you add is a commitment of your listener's time and attention. Quality over coverage, every time.

Setting it up

The main building block of a Guided Tour is the stop. Each stop has:

Name — the title shown to users in the app

Cover photo — a square image representing this stop (a clear, well-lit photo works best)

Narration — the audio content users hear when they arrive

Location — where on the map this stop sits; you place a pin in the admin tool

You can also attach attractions (extra points of interest with their own narration) and recommendations (nearby places worth visiting) to any stop. See Building Blocks for details on both.

Don't forget to set an estimated duration for the whole experience — users rely on this to decide whether they have time to start.