Tourio– AI powered tour guide

Automatically speaks when you near a landmark — your voice-first AI tour guide for real-time, location-based exploration.

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🤖 Tourio – AI-Powered Tour Guide

Automatically speaks fascinating facts as you approach nearby attractions — your personal AI tour guide that listens, talks, and navigates in real time.

Inspiration

While traveling, I noticed many tourists using pre-recorded audio guides, where they had to manually press a number corresponding to a nearby attraction just to hear some information. It felt mechanical and disconnected from the actual experience of exploring.

I wanted to create something more natural — something that mimics a real tour guide. My goal was to eliminate the need for pressing buttons or following rigid instructions. That’s how the idea for Tourio was born:

A smart, conversational tour guide that automatically speaks as you approach a landmark — making exploration feel personal, hands-free, and truly immersive.

What it does

Tourio is a voice-driven tour companion that:

  • Automatically speaks interesting facts when you're near a tourist attraction.
  • Shows nearby attractions on a real-time map based on your location.
  • Listens to your queries via voice or text input.
  • Responds with AI-generated answers in a friendly, conversational tone.
  • Uses text-to-speech (TTS) to narrate all important responses so you can enjoy a hands-free experience.

How we built it

Frontend (React Native + Expo)

  • expo-maps for the map interface with OpenStreetMap data.
  • expo-location to track and update the user's location.
  • expo-speech for TTS responses.
  • react-native-voice for converting speech input to text.
  • Axios for interacting with the backend.

Backend (FastAPI)

  • /attractions: Fetches nearby places using OpenStreetMap.
  • /explain: Generates facts using Gemini when a place is selected.
  • /speak: Triggers automatic speech when approaching a new attraction.
  • /ask: Accepts user questions and returns AI-generated answers.

AI Layer

  • Used the LLAMA to generate friendly, informative, and concise narration for each attraction.

Challenges we ran into

  • Handling accurate GPS detection and avoiding false triggers for nearby attractions.
  • Integrating react-native-voice for speech recognition, which required EAS Build for native modules.
  • Synchronizing real-time TTS with dynamic responses without overlap or repetition.
  • Managing state and context between attractions already spoken and new ones in the background.
  • Debugging map interactions and microphone permissions across Android devices.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

  • Seamlessly blending voice recognition, TTS, real-time maps, and AI into one intuitive app.
  • Creating a completely hands-free experience where users can just walk and learn.
  • Keeping the system lightweight, cost-free, and API-key-free using OpenStreetMap and native device features.
  • Crafting a natural-sounding guide powered by LLMs — making travel more immersive and educational.

What we learned

  • Deepened my understanding of React Native with native modules, especially speech-to-text.
  • Learned how to architect a map-driven mobile app with live user location tracking.
  • Understood the importance of minimizing distractions in UX for travel-based apps.
  • Gained experience in combining voice interfaces, LLMs, and geolocation data for real-world use cases.
  • Explored the integration of AWS Bedrock to deliver scalable, low-latency access to foundation models like LLAMA for generating contextual tour guidance.

What's next for Tourio– AI powered tour guide

  • Add multi-language support for international tourists.
  • Implement personalized tour suggestions based on interests or walking patterns.
  • Enable photo-based recognition (point camera at monument to learn about it).
  • Download offline maps and narration for remote travel areas.
  • Collaborate with local tourism boards or heritage apps for verified data.
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