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Hidden Britain
....Leading the way in discovering and developing responsible rural tourism |
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| June 2011 |
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| Honest, we're not making this up...
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Last month’s update featured a couple of articles around social media and a poll asking you, our readers, how important these tools are to your organisations. While this isn’t exactly a scientific test, we were genuinely surprised with the results – around half of the respondents believe that social media isn’t of much use at all.
The surprise comes from what we know about usage of these tools by the public and organisations:
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Tripadvisor generates more than 40 million unique visitors every month and features more than 88,000 places to stay, eat and visit in the UK alone
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Social media is now the most popular use of the internet in the UK
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45% of Brits use mobile devices to plan and research activities once they've arrived at their destination.
Honestly, technology is not the only choice but it is an increasingly popular one for any group looking to attract and engage with visitors.
So, this month we’ve had our crystal ball out and taken a look at just a couple of mobile technologies that we believe show real potential for destinations. There’s no guarantee but, hey, seven years ago, Facebook didn’t even exist and now it has 700 million members!
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Augmented Reality... sightseeing on steroids
Bear with us on this, it’s not just a techy ramble or another innovation that is beyond the means of rural communities and small destinations. Augmented Reality (AR) is in fact a very useful tool allowing places to provide extra depth, information and experience to visitors, and more specifically those visitors who come smartphone equipped (as millions now do).
So what is AR? Simply put it’s a way of taking what we all experience and adding computer generated content to it (augmenting our reality as opposed to virtual reality where the content replaces our reality). This can be done in many ways, but for our purposes the most relevant method is adding content to the image seen through the lens of the camera on your smartphone as you point it and move it around.
A quick way of illustrating AR in action (albeit in a fun way) can be seen in this video. A Star Wars game is being played on a mobile phone but the camera and software is operating together to make the scene for the space battle New York City in real time. The background is being added as a layer based on what the user is literally pointing the phone at!
From a destination perspective, AR can be used to enhance sightseeing. For example when a visitor points their camera phone at a landmark, the technology can recognise it and overlay useful information or even pictures of what the building looked like at various points in time, really bringing the history of a place to life.
Getting even more clever, information can be geotagged (given specific GPS coordinates) which then appears as the camera reaches a certain physical point or looks at a certain thing while the individual is on the move. This means AR can overlay images or information of what’s within the vicinity in any given direction.
 This approach is already in use in plenty of ways, from telling people where the nearest cash point is to where the nearest accommodation and attractions are, complete with reviews.
There really isn’t a limit on what you can do with AR. One of its most useful applications could be developed as part of a walking trail or guide. Imagine being able to use your phone to get real-time route finding, see relevant and engaging information, watch videos or see images of past or fictional characters as you get to the appropriate spot on the walk; or even to hear spoken word stories as you point your phone at parts of the landscape. And all while you’re actually out walking!
How can it be done? There are plenty of developers and companies out there who can develop a bespoke AR phone app for you. Alternatively you can look at developing something yourself. Tools like Layar, billed as an augmented reality browser, offer an interface (API) that allows users with some technical knowledge to develop their own “layer”.
Layar is available on iphone, Android and Symbian based handsets (Blackberry and Windows phone users are left out at present).
As an alternative, you can just ensure you have relevant content on third party apps like Tripadvisor and advertise their AR functions heavily within your own marketing. Watch this space for more developments... literally!
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Bumping Heads; the new world of NFC
Another new technology application worth a look is NFC (or Near Field Communication). This is essentially where two devices in close proximity can exchange small amounts of information. A great example is the way an Oyster card works in London or how pre-paid swipe cards work in some universities. This might not seem cutting edge but where NFC is coming into its own is by enabling mobile phones to do the same thing.
And it’s already being trialled in the Eat chain of shops in London where you can now use certain mobile phones, pre-loaded with credit to complete a purchase by simply waving it near the receiver. This could mean more emphasis on using our phones as payment tools without needing to dial anything in or dig around for cards or cash.
As more NFC enabled handsets become available, it will be interesting to see if a single destination decides to implement this across its retail offering - there are already various rumours about the London Olympics making a big NFC push.
NFC could do a lot more for destinations. NFC chips could be embedded in interpretation panels or blue plaques for instance. When an NFC enabled phone is recognised, they would transmit information, pictures, video etc on what you are looking at straight to the phone.
An added benefit is that unlike web-based tools like QR codes, NFC doesn’t need an active signal to work so could theoretically work anywhere!
Right now, there are only a few phones available with NFC but the major manufacturers are looking hard at the technology, making it likely that usage will grow, giving us new ways to reach and engage visitors
Click here for more information on NFC.
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Hints & Tips - keeping up to date
Keeping up to date with the latest relevant technology needn’t be onerous or time consuming. We’ve put together a few sources that you can try to get free and relevant information.
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Sign up to the Mashable updates for all things tech and social media
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Sign up for daily or weekly updates from Travelmole which often include technology features
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If you’re members of Action for Market Towns (AMT) check out the member forums where communities share ideas about what technology works or doesn’t work
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It might sound daft but sign up for technology updates from mobile phone companies that you use eg; 3 . Or from handset manufacturers like Apple, Nokia and Blackberry.
There are plenty more great hints, tips and advice on developing all aspects of a tourism project or idea at the Hidden Britain website. Click here to find out more
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