Skate Tour Uses GPS Tracking
Skateboarding Community Gets Help With Real-Time GPS
Skateboarding has always represented the youth counter culture movement ever since it exploded in popularity in the early 1970s in Southern California. When surfers decided to try and ride concrete with skateboards with the same artistry that was used to conquer waves with surfboards, a revolution began. Over time, skateboarding progressed and evolved from a strange hobby by locals looking for entertainment away from the ocean to a worldwide sport featuring some of the most skilled athletes. Today, everyone from young kids to adults will take to the streets or local skate parks to ride, as anyone with roughly $50 can purchase a board and learn how to skate. In an effort to continue pushing the sport of skateboarding into mainstream media, skate company Volcom decided to utilize GPS tracking technology to promote a recent skate tour throughout Southern California.
GPS Tracker For Skateboard
The common procedure for skate tours is to market and promote every skate park the professionals will visit so fans can find out the exact day that their favorite skaters will be in town. Although this method makes sense from a functional standpoint, the outside-of-the-box thinkers at Volcom decided that they wanted to do something out of the ordinary to promote a tour called the “So-Cal Tranny Check GPS Tour“. A short tour that would cover skate parks from Los Angeles to San Diego, Volcom decided to promote the tour by equipping a vehicle tracking system to the tour bus carrying the skating professionals. The tour wanted to be about spontaneity, so Volcom placed a live vehicle tracker similar to the SilverCloud GPS on the tour bus, allowing anyone to have instant access to the location of where the skaters were going. The skaters, along with tour officials and promoters, would decide on the fly what skate parks throughout San Diego and Los Angeles they would stop at, and fans could then log on to the Volcom website whenever they wanted to see where the pros would be skating for that day. From all accounts, the one week tour featuring famous skaters such as Louie Lopez, Aaron Suski, and Brandon Westgate was a success.
When asked about the use of GPS monitoring technology to promote a skate tour, a fleet management expert for Tracking System Direct said, “Skateboarding is part of the Southern California culture; a fabric of originality that helps define the lifestyle of the people who live here. Through the combination of unique marketing and live GPS tracking technology, Volcom was able to bring more attention and a larger audience to a very cool sport. This shows us that the applications of GPS trackers are clearly endless.”
Volcom has not released any information on whether or not they will use GPS devices to promote future tours.
Matthew is a freelance writer who is passionate about technology, music, photography, and decentralized finance.
