iPhone application places St. Andrews on the virtual map - Jun. 03, 2010
John Gardner/Courier
Vaughn McIntyre holds an iPhone loaded with the St. Andrews App. The virtual travel brochure is available on both iPhones and iPads.
BY JOHN GARDNER
john@stcroixcourier.ca
ST. ANDREWS – Finding your way just got easier in one Canadian town.
The town of St. Andrews now has its own application on the iPhone.
Apple’s iPhones, iPads and iPods connect to the Internet allowing the user to pull in a wide range of information.
Icons on the touch screen connect the user to “apps” (short for applications.)
The St. Andrews app is one of them.
“What we are discovering is that well over 60 per cent of tourists are now looking on the Internet before they come to places,” said Vaughn McIntyre, who is working with several interested parties to promote the area. McIntyre went on to say many of the visitor information centres are changing the way that they distribute information from the paper handout to electronic means.
“It started with web sites.”
Once in the area, the visitor may discover there is more to the town than they had thought.
“They may come for one thing, but they get delighted when they are here and they want to extend their stay.”
The devices are fully capable of showing those traditional websites, but moves beyond the traditional, bundling a number of local services into one well informed package.
After pulling up the application, a visitor can see a map of the area, including where they are in relation to various potential tourist-oriented destinations, the latter marked with images of pins.
Touching a virtual pin on the map will give information about the attraction, and how to get there.
Pulling up the Atlantic Salmon Federation as an example, McIntyre was able to show a number of options, including the attraction’s website. A map with a route overlay was accessible, as was a short video clip of the location.
“We happened to find the Peterson Group.”
Mark and John Peterson were the people who were on the Antique Road Show on CBC. They moved from the traditional video production on television to producing short clips for such applications.
McIntyre says about 40 seconds of video will give an impression without boring the viewer.
The app provides valuable local information, too.
Going back to the map, McIntyre touches a pin located in the bay. Instantly tidal information appears on the screen. A colourful graphic shows how far away the next high and low tides are, as well as how high the tide is currently.
McIntyre works with the major players in local tourism. A partnership between the town, the Fairmont Algonquin, Kingsbrae Gardens, and the Atlantic Salmon Federation formed to create the app.
There are thousands of applications for these devices, and the St. Andrews app joins such hard hitters as the Yellow Pages and the Toronto Stock Exchange. Moreover, while there are numerous U.S. cities developing similar applications, St. Andrews is the first in Canada to have made the virtual leap in this direction.
“This device gives them the ability to ask what else is there.”
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