developing the portsmouth historic dockyard app
Post on 14-Jun-2015
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SURFACE IMPRESSION
Developing the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard app
with
PORTSMOUTH HISTORIC DOCKYARD
Portsmouth Historic Dockyard
• Many attractions contained within the dockyard• Lots of opportunity for historical interpretation in the
dockyard itself
The concept
• To produce a resource that allows visitors to get more out of their visit, not just one or two attractions
• To avoid problems with previous interpretation/guides• Interpretation boards clutter up the space• Audio “wands” have a tendency to disappear• Printed material goes out of date
• Solution: create a smartphone app that visitors can download to their own devices
About Surface Impression
• Specialists in digital media for museums & heritage• Founded in 2001• Very experienced in
• Web development and interactives• Online collections• Social media / engagement• Mobile and in-gallery implementation
• Used to working with HLF, Arts Council and other funding bodies
The plan
• Lead with “tours” rather than attractions• Different tour topics or audience groups• To be free and available on Apple and Android• People to follow geo-located points of interest• Use internet mapping (Google / Apple) to
show the points• But also have a strong narrative thread that
could be followed
Early designs
Content
• Nick pulled together the content from a variety of sources to create a coherent narrative
• Content is entered into a content management system so the app can be updated at any time, without needing a new submission to the app store
Locations
• Measuring location accurately can be tricky• We’ve tended to use photography – either on GPS
enabled cameras or ordinary smartphones• But if you use your own phone, it can be inaccurate• Inaccuracies also creep in from human error
– Where you’re standing to take a photo is the recorded location– But it’s easy to think the thing you photographed is being
located• Some points have had to be adjusted using online maps
Field tests
• Once the app was coded up and largely functional, we held a testing session at the Dockyard
• Representatives from the organisation and the attractions attended
• They tried out the tours and assessed the content
• We also did a “secret shopper” test with two children
What we found
• The overall concept and narrative approach was well received
• Inevitably some details needed to be changed
• The news feed / calendar was not translating well from website to app
• The Google/Apple maps for the Dockyard didn’t make sense
• Location-based unlocking of content was too crude
Solution 1: selfies instead of unlocking
• Instead of tying achievements in the kids tour to “unlocking” locations, we encouraged them to take photographs of themselves at the spot instead
• They can then show their “album” of found places to get small rewards
Solution 2: a drawn map
• Instead of using online maps, we adapted a diagramatic map that Portsmouth Historic Dockyard had commissioned for print
• But we had to modify it heavily, repositioning the elements so that they accurately represented latitude and longitude
What’s next
• Imminent launch on Apple App store followed by Google Play
• Tweak content over the winter, ready for push in spring 2015
• Market the app to visitors – opportunities:– Signage in queue areas– On tickets, brochures, ads– Social media, website etc– Optimisation on App store and Google Play
Contact
Peter PavementSurface Impressionpeterp@surfaceimpression.com@peterpavement01273 958600
Nick HewittNational Museum of the Royal Navynick.hewitt@nmrn.org.uk@NickHewitt402392 724391
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