The Latest Revolution in Paris: Tourism Goes Hi-Tech

It would be tempting to think of Paris as a city of Luddites after watching several days of taxi-drivers burning tires and barricading airports and train stations to protest the incursion of Uber drivers into the city.

“Luddites,” you remember, were a working-class anti-technology movement in Britain back during the 19th century industrial revolution, named after Ned Ludd, a young man who first started smashing machines a century earlier, in 1779. All-in-all a local vociferous objection to a global phenomenon – like today.

But while the taxi drivers are exercising their right to protest (indeed, the government banned Uberpop as a result), other enterprising Parisians are busy embracing technology as a means to build an offshoot to one of the city’s biggest businesses: tourism.

It’s a completely off-line iPhone app called “Smarter Paris,” with real-time updated information on everything from restaurant reviews to entertainment to sales in the shops to bicycle rental stations to …yes, transportation information and maps. You can tailor the information you receive according to your on profile and criteria. There’s even an audio guide function that reads the content out loud if you are not keen on scrolling text on your smartphone.. In short, you have the benefit of an electronic tour guide in the palm of your hand (or talking in your ear) – a far cry from the tourist handbook.