Everything You Need To Know About Mobile Apps for Museums and Visitor Spaces

There are tons of ways to use mobile apps or tablets or other technologies in museums these days. What are these different ways? What are their pros, cons, and unknowns? Which one is right for you?

Those are the questions this blog will answer.

First, what can the mobile app do?

1.    Mobile apps can act as simply mobile versions of your website -- introductory information about your space, directions, contact info, events/calendar, and social media links.

2.    Mobile apps can be tour guides of your space. They would replace handheld audio-wands completely (and be cheaper and easier to maintain). They could also supplement docents (if you have staffing/volunteer constraints) -- and although nothing can be as good as a real person, the app can provide different benefits, such as flexibility in what the visitor wants to listen to, a consistent story for each visitor, etc.

3.    Mobile apps can be a game for your site -- children or adults can play a scavenger hunt, trivia game, or other type of game that gets them involved in your site.

4.    Navigation help - Mobile apps have a full map of the area and a guided tour with stop numbers in them to properly direct the traffic. It helps in controlling crowd and it also ensures that no one misses important stops.

5.    Multiple languages - Mobile apps are offered in several languages to help foreign tourists to listen to the story in their own language.

Second, how do visitors access this app?

1.    Visitors can either download a mobile app onto their own phones/tablets

2.    You can offer a phone/tablet to visitors in order for them to view a mobile app

3.    Both! You can offer a downloadable app to visitors who want to use their own devices or offer devices to those who don’t want to

What kinds of tours can I give on an app?

1.    Museum or historic house tour

2.    Interactive science center, aquarium, or zoo tour

3.    Walking tour of town or city

4.    Biking tour of town or city

5.    Self-driving tour of town or city

6.    Trolley, bus, or hop on/hop off tour of town or city

7.    Boat, river, cruise, or duck tour

8.    Garden, park, or hiking trail tour

How does mapping / GPS work?

   * Note that this does not require wifi, cell signal, or data to work!

1.    Static tour -- visitors can view just a static floor-map. This is a good fit inside a building.

2.    iBeacon tour -- app recognizes when visitor approaches an object and performs a predefined action. This is a good fit inside a building.

3.    GPS tour -- app tracks visitor as they move and performs an action when the visitor approaches certain areas. This is a good fit when distances are far apart.

Author: Ushma Shah is a founder of Action Data Systems, developer of Action tour apps on smartphones. Action Data Systems is headquartered​​​ in Barrington, Rhode Island with a regional office in Mumbai India. Action​ ​​Data Systems ​helps museums, attractions and bus tour operators to create Apple and Android tour guide apps to increase tourist engagement, improve ratings & reviews and generate new revenue from mobile e​-​commerce. For more information, please visit http://www.actionshowapp.com

Mobile tour guide app makes traditional museum audio guides obsolete!

We have all used audio guides at museums, historical homes and other such attractions in order to help us understand what we see around us. Sometimes they cost a few dollars, sometimes they are free. But, the writing on the wall suggests that these audio guides are on their way out. While they served their purpose well, a much better solution has emerged ... mobile tour guide apps. These apps are downloadable from Google and Apple store either before you visit the attraction or at the gate of the attraction. Once downloaded, they work with no internet connection and don’t burn through your data plan. You may still need to borrow headsets, if you don’t already have a pair of headphones handy. You get to walk around the attraction with your own phone and enjoy a self guided tour that has both video and audio.

Here is why we believe mobile tour guide apps are replacing the traditional audio guides:

1. Purchase and maintenance cost: Audio guides are very expensive to buy and also expensive to maintain. With mobile apps, the attraction has no cost of buying or maintaining the hardware. Tourists use their own phone to download the app and use it.

2. Take the story home: Since the traditional audio guide instruments are returned back, the story is no longer with the tourist. Once the tourist downloads mobile app on their own phone, he/she can use it at the attraction, and then, take the story home to listen to it again or show it to friends and families.

3. Multimedia experience: While audio guide provides audio, the mobile apps offer audio, pictures, video and transcript. Pictures ensure that you are looking at the right object. They can show old pictures, seasonal pictures, related pictures to give a fuller experience. And, they also provide a transcript to read for those who love to read. So, overall, a much better experience.

4. Multiple languages: Attractions end up reserving a certain number of audio guides for foreign languages. With mobile apps, tourist simply downloads the language they need or some Apps are intelligent and download the right language on their own. Not having to keep aside unit for foreign guests help save costs and you never run the risk of running out of guides with foreign support.

5. Navigation and map help: Audio guides have no screen to show a map. Apps show a full screen with all the rooms/objects/attraction points and also provide a sequence by guiding the tourist step by step.

Overall, a mobile tour app is a huge winner over the traditional audio guides.