Publishing walking & biking routes onto mobiles offers new medium, convenience and added value for visitor information
February 7th 2011 – Augmentra, the maker of the award winning outdoor navigation app ViewRanger GPS has partnered with Cumbria Tourism to publish walking & biking routes in the Lake District on their mobile platform. The deal means that residents & visitors to the Lake District with a smartphone will be able to use the ViewRanger mobile app to access these tourist board endorsed routes as downloadable, interactive guides – with maps, GPS navigation & detailed, reliable local information. The aim is that it will drive an increase in accessibility to the countryside and landmarks, while encouraging more people overall to visit Cumbria in 2011 and beyond.
Available from 7th February 2011, the initial 30-plus walking & biking routes to be released by Cumbria Tourism & ViewRanger includes favourite routes in the region. The partnership re-interprets existing materials published on the Cumbria Tourism website. Publishing on mobile with ViewRanger, goes one step further than the existing web based access to visitor information about the Lake District and enhances the visitors’ experience by providing the peace of mind of GPS mapped location and location specific information.
The popular ViewRanger GPS app is available for Apple, Android and Symbian smartphones and can run 1:50K or 1:25K OS mapping. ViewRanger is already popular with Outdoor enthusiasts around the world. The fact that it is used by a growing number of UK Search & Rescue teams is a testament to its accuracy & reliability.
Each route with full navigation and local information can be purchased (£1.50/route) and downloaded to the visitor’s smartphone using the ViewRanger app. Visitors can purchase ViewRanger from their app store or even via Cumbria Tourism own web e-shop together with OS mapping for the whole of the Lake District. Importantly, it is the first time that a regional tourist board has implemented this approach.
Ellis Butcher, a spokesman for Cumbria Tourism, said: "The Lake District and Cumbria is the best walking and cycling destination in Britain. With increasing numbers of our visitors packing smartphones it makes perfect consumer sense to give them the chance to download some of this area’s best routes direct to their handsets. When visitors are in the area they often need additional information which is not necessarily always found on traditional maps. This is where the new project comes into its own by utilising the information we have on our tourism website and putting it into the hands of visitors when they need it.
Anyone wanting access to the routes can get them through both the ViewRanger App and our own online e-shop at www.golakes.co.uk
Craig Wareham, CEO of Augmentra – the company that develops ViewRanger commented – “This is a great partnership. The Cumbria Tourism has been really forward thinking about this project. Obviously, they have unparalleled regional knowledge and we have offered them a way to ensure that it is made available to a wider audience. Hopefully this will encourage more people to visit Cumbria in the next twelve months. I believe we will see many more Tourist boards across the UK adopting similar approaches very soon, as it offers an innovative way to generate additional income from existing content”.
For more information go to www.viewranger.com/lakes
About Augmentra
Augmentra Ltd is the Cambridge UK based Angel funded software development company behind ViewRanger GPS, and is partnered with national mapping agencies across Europe including Ordnance Survey in the UK, BKG in Germany and with a range of content publishers, including National Geographic in North America.
ViewRanger GPS is their award winning mobile phone application which delivers GPS navigation, mapping and location-based content to outdoor activity enthusiasts and outdoor professionals worldwide.
ViewRanger has been running on a range of Symbian S60 mobile devices for over two years and in 2010 launched on Apple iOS (iPhone/iPad) and on Android OS. ViewRanger GPS uses global map coverage from Open sourced mapping, and can be upgraded to run premium topographic map data available for a growing number of countries, including Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Holland, Ireland, parts of Italy, Norway, New Zealand, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, USA.
Follow Augmentra at www.twitter.com/viewranger
www.viewranger.com