Two years ago we designed and built the Virtual Tour Guide, as a way that you can provide information to your visitors using their own mobile phones. This provides benefits to both the visitors, in terms of a more informed and modern experience, and also to the museum/gallery/site in a cost-effective way to increase visitor satisfaction and information.
This was introduced at the SAMA (South African Museums Association) conference in Paarl in 2012, in which Roger Layton presented our work based upon a number of pilots we had used for the development. In the past 2 years we have then built this up to a fully-fledged product which can be implemented and installed very quickly, and which uses QR Code to help the visitors gain entry to the Virtual Tour Guide for your site.
How it works – the visitor perspective
A visitor arrives at the site / museum and scans the QR code for the Virtual Tour on their mobile phone / tablet, and then it opens up the virtual tour they have selected, and it informs them everything they need to experience the site / tour / exhibition:
- about the tour
- how to get from one place to the next
- features stopping points – the “must see” elements and to put these into context
- telling a story as would an experienced tour guide
- allowing the visitors to mark items of interest (such as a “like”)
- providing support information such as access to facilities and restaurants
- enabling the visitors to comments on and rate the exhibits / stopping points, and to share these
Potential Uses of the Virtual Tour Guide
We have explored a number of potential applications of the Virtual Tour Guide in the heritage / arts sector including the following:
- various walkthoughs a museums depending how much time is available and the interest of the visitor
- a guided walkthough an art gallery, our outdoor art exhibit, providing explanations to assist novices in understanding and appreciating art
- making the text content available in various languages, based upon the visitor demographics
- specialised tours for exhibitions
- providing a guide walk through sites, including archaeological, battlefields, historical, botanical, geological, etc….
- guided walks through industrial tours such as factory visitor by school children
How to get started with the Virtual Tour Guide
It is very easy to get started with the Virtual Tour Guide and we are involved throughout this process to make this work for you. There is a basic costs to get this established, and then a small costs for hosting it.
We help with the conception and design of the tours, and the preparation of the external signage and information such as putting the QR codes throughout the site. AS required we can also offer a charged approach in which visitors are required to pay a small amount to gain access for the day.
Contact Us
Should you wish to speak to us about incorporating the Virtual Tour Guide into your museum / gallery / site then please send us an email, or call Roger Layton on 082.881.0380.
We would be very happy to help you to increase your visitor experience and to help you with the transition into world-class experiences.