Two experimental projects for exploring the heritage of the Loire by bike

MP3 in the Pays des Châteaux in the Val de Loire:
MP3 recordings on sites of interest.

40 heritage sites are promoted through an hour’s content recorded in segments of two or three minutes per site. Visitors can use their own equipment (MP3 player or mobile phone), by simply tapping in the code for the site shown on the map of suggested itineraries available from information points throughout the area. The MP3 file will be available for download from the Internet in due course.

This project has involved the Pays des Châteaux area, the Val de Loire Mission and the culture department of the town of Blois, and relies on technology developed by the firm Voxinzebox.


PDAs in Anjou with Cyclopédia:
Tourist and heritage information on the go with a PDA-type hand-held computer.

Since 11 June, ten GPS multimedia guides have been available free of charge (in 2007) in the area’s five tourist offices (Saumur, Saint-Mathurin-sur-Loire, Angers, Chalonnes-sur-Loire and Montjean-sur-Loire).
The guide offers audio and video content on the theme of the Loire for the stretch of the river between Gennes and Montjean-sur-Loire. The audio content will be available for download from the Internet from July 2007 onwards.
The device can be fixed to the handlebars of a bike and also offers GPS navigation to help locate heritage sites.

This project has involved the Maine-et-Loire departmental tourism committee and the Val de Loire Mission, and relies on technology developed by the firm Caminéo.


Further information:

Pays de Chambord
and the Chateaux by Bike website


Maine-et-Loire departmental tourism committee