As regular readers of this blog know, Geogad has been a big supporter of the Android ecosystem and is available to travelers through its own Android app. It has also been a big supporter of the upcoming Android Hackathon, the first Android hackathon in Silicon Valley. This event will take place on March 13 at Hacker Dojo in Mountain View.

The best feature of hackathons is the way that programmer spontaneously come together to form teams to transform an idea into a working app. To help beginning Android programmers pick up the basics on Android, Geogad will be presenting some introductory classes on Android in the weeks before the hackathon.

The first class is scheduled for Feb. 16 from 6:00 to 8:30 PM. The class will take place at Access Growth in Santa Clara. Two instructors will teach up to 20 students on the basics of Android including

• Setting up Eclipse to create and run Android projects.
• In-depth look at a few Hello World-type projects.
• Lifecycle of an Activity
• Intents, Services and launch modes
• Android tools bundled in the SDK
• Techniques for debugging Android projects

Since this is a good bit of material to cover in a relatively short time, all students are required to have downloaded and installed the latest versions of Eclipse, Sun’s JDK 6, and the Android SDK before arriving at the class. Students must already know how to programming in the Java programming language on which Android is based.

This class will cost $25 per person and is limited to 20 students. You can register here. For more information, contact service at geogad.com

Introductory Android Class

 Before the hackathon begins, Geogad will be helping beginning Android programmers learn some of the basics to allow them to contribute to the team projects.

SV Android Developer Meetup held a competition for its members to vote on what were their favorite Android Apps. Geogad’s Tour app was honored as the second most favorite app. Thanks for the support and the votes of appreciation. It is nice to know that Geogad’s app is so highly prized.

Be assured that we will keep up improving the app and Geogad’s entire travel content platform to provide the best services for all travelers.

As always, let us know what you think about Geogad’s services, especially its Android-based application.

Last week, Geogad released its Mobile Tour of Victoria, BC to conincide with Canada Day, which is basically the birthday of the formation of the Dominion of Canada.

Of course, since Geogad remembered the Canadian birthday celebration, then it could hardly ignore the birthday of the United States. In that spirit, Geogad has added its latest professionally created audio tour to its collection of Mobile Tours in time for the July 4th holiday. This latest tour covers Philadelphia’s Independence National Historic Park, the most historic square mile of the United States.

If you have never been to Independence Park, it is really a great place to realize how small and tiny the United States was and the determination that it took for the founders of the American Revolution to stand up to Great Britain. Geogad’s tour is great for first time travelers who may be overwhelmed by all that there is to see and do in the park. This tour gives travelers an easy-to-follow overview of the top attractions in the park so they can decide what they might like to spend more time on. For busy travelers who have a small amount of time, they can focus on what they can and let Geogad fill in the blanks as they travel from site to site. It is also a great tour for armchair travelers to feel as if they are touring the park being lead by a knowledgeable tour guide.

The tour begins at the Independence Park Visitor Center, which has knowledgeable volunteers that can provide visitors with the latest opening times of the park attractions. The opening times and days vary depending on the season. The center also is a convenient place to park if you bring your own car. After the traveler is armed with all of the advice that the volunteers can give, this tour guides the traveler through the heart of the park by visiting the Liberty Bell Center and then Independence Hall, perhaps the most important building in the colonial history of the United States. After exploring the people who fought for the freedom of this country to determine its own destiny, the most amazing part of the story is that a bunch of well educated and, in many cases, wealthy men formed a government in which power was transferred from leader to leader based on what the people voted, a bizarre, radical form of government that had not been tried in over 2000 years. These ideal young revolutionaries paid a heavy price as we learn at the next tour stop that was a mass grave for American Revolutionary War soldiers. The next few tour stops focus on one of the most prolific of these revolutionaries, Benjamin Franklin, from his work and home to his devotion to science and state and even the mundane things in life like forming institutions to protect Philadelphians from fire. Other tour stops focus on how the people of the early US lived and fought for their freedoms.

Whether you are just touring Phiadelphia while taking this Geogad mobile tour on your favorite mobile device or if you are just exploring Philadelphia from your armchair, do enjoy your tour and let us know what you think.

Geogad has now added its latest Canadian tour with its Mobile Tour of Victoria, just in time for the Canada Day celebrations.

Geogad’s tour of Victoria begins in the heart of Victoria’s Inner Harbor and includes Victoria’s former steamship terminal, its impressive Legislative Buildings and its regal Empress Hotel, which all add to the city’s genteel manner. The Royal BC Museum and its adjacent park teach visitors and remind locals of British Columbia’s people and their legacy. A highlight of the stop at the museum is a visit to Thunderbird Park where visitors can get up close and personal with the totem poles carved by the best First Nations artists. The tour also touches on many of Victoria’s small neighborhoods including Chinatown and the downtown business district. With over an hour of narration, the tour will be sure to aid Victoria’s new travelers and entertain its frequent visitors.

Best of all, travelers can explore Victoria on their own schedule for free. All of this and the best of Victoria is provided for free by Geogad, your personal mobile tour guide.

Enjoy the Canada Day holiday and enjoy Geogad’s Mobile Tour of Victoria, British Columbia.

Geogad has added a new tour to its collection of professional tours: Beijing’s Tian’anmen Square and the Forbidden City. Like Geogad’s tour of the Angkor Wat Temple Complex, this tour brings an ancient empire back to life for the travelers walking in the footsteps of royalty. This time, the tour covers Beijing’s two must-see attractions, Tian’anmen Square and the Forbidden Palace.

Tian’anmen began its existance as the entryway to the Forbidden City. It also had the dubious distinction of being the closest location for commoners to be to China’s emperor, who was the Son of Heaven and literally a god on earth. With the fall of China’s last imperial dynasty in 1912 and the rise of Mao’s Communist Party, Tian’anmen Square was transformed to four times its original size. Now it can hold 1 million people for parades, celbrations and, most imfamously, protests of the government.

The Forbidden City was the winter palace for China’s emperors since 1420. This palace complex was the work of Emperor Yongle, who wrestled his empire with his large army from his nephem, who tried to have him stripped of his title and powers. This largest palace complex was built in just 13 years and has remained much the same as his original design through the reigns of dozens of emperors, rebellions, multiple conquests from invading armies and two different imerial dynasties.

Let Geogad add to your Beijing sightseeing by helping you to explore this UNESCO World Heritage Site and this great treasure of Chinese culture.