Geo Location App for National Park Bus Tours
We were excited to deliver a new custom app this summer for New Forest National Park in England. It is a private (not on the app store) Geo Locating iPhone app that automatically plays commentary along three bus routes. The app is installed on iPad minis which are plugged into the bus speaker systems. The buses provide transportation around the park and allow visitors to hop on and off at various locations. As the bus passes various locations, the app audio plays automatically, giving riders information about the points of interest and upcoming stops. And coincidentally, New Forest Park experienced record visitor numbers this summer – though it might have had more to do with the weather than their snazzy new app.
We were really excited to create this app since it merges the incredible multimedia feature set available on smart phones with the geo-location feature that was previously only available through GPS hardware devices—which are limited in their functionality. New Forest had been using a gps hardware device that had been modified to play audio through the bus speaker system. However it was very difficult to make changes to both the audio and the gps points and didn’t give the driver a dashboard to override the tour stops or see what was playing. Now the New Forest staff can easily update the audio tracks and GPS points through the Tour Buddy App Builder website, which automatically pushes changes out to the apps. The app works without any Wifi or cellular connection which was important since there is not a reliable cellular signal throughout the park. The app also includes compass points so that the audio tracks only play when the bus is travelling in the forward direction and not on the return trip.
Nat Taplin, with the New Forest National Park Authority, has been pleased with the results and urges visitors to visit www.thenewforesttour.info to see the open-top buses that the commentary app is being used on and the wonderful landscapes which it is helping to bring to life for travelers.