The same technology used to pinpoint water and sewer lines in Eastern Kentucky will be used to develop a program that allows tourists to create personalized driving tours in four Appalachian counties.

Tourists taking advantage of the Kentucky Artisan Heritage Trails Pilot Project will be able to interact with digital map layers and cultural data on the Internet to explore Madison, Estill, Jackson and Rockcastle counties.

A tourist, for example, who wanted to see pottery, stay in a bed and breakfast and take a scenic drive in those counties could evter that information and a driving tour would be created that met those needs.

Two-page Web sites highlighting various businesses also will be included in the project.

The goal is to entice to the regional cultural-heritage tourists who are seeking vacations focusing on crafts, history and scenic beauty. It's expected to be up and running early next year.

The driving tours will be a component of the Appalachian/Kentucky Artisan Center in Berea that's scheduled to be constructed along I-75. Tourists also can access the information at a workstation at the center in Berea.

"We believe if presented ties between products, makers and places, people will be interested in visiting places where the wonderful prjects are made," said Cheryl Morehead, director of the Center for Economic Development, Entrepreneurship and Technology at Eastern Kentucky University.

The center has been contracted by the state to serve as interim management of the artisan's center.

The program uses GIS mapping, which is satellite technology that has been used by area development districts in Eastern Kentucky to study infrastructure. Information such as the location of artist studios, galleries, bed and breakfasts and natural resources will be added to create the project.

"We're taking it into a different realm to map cultural and historic places," said Kathy Werking, a communications professor at Eastern who serves as a faculty team leader at the economic development center.

Nationally, there is a growing trend toward promoting cultural heritage sites.

The Kentucky Department of Travel released a strategic plan in January in hopes of tapping into the market. The goals of the plan include creating a community awareness campaign and developing "kid-friendly" places to visit.

One advantage to having cultural heritage tourists is that they tend to have big pocketbooks. Visitors to historic and cultural attractions spend $615 per trip compared to $425 for other U.S. travelers and stay an average of 4.7 nights compared to 3.3 nights, according to a 1997 study by the Travel Industry Association of America.

The virtual driving tour project is funded with a $64,643 grant from the Appalachian Regional Commission.

In addition, the state contributed $49,888 and local sources provided $20,815 in matching funds for a total cost of $135,346.

It is modeled after HandMade in America, a program based in western North Carolina that has had success in building local craft businesses by promoting cultural heritage driving tours.

The four Kentucky counties selected offer a variety of services, events and places ranging from Renfro Valley in Rockcastle County to the String Bean Festival in Jackson County.

Project organizers hope to eventually add the rest of eastern Kentucky to the project followed by the other half of the state.