Dig Up More Dinosaur Stories with Museum App

Thursday, August 12 11:28 am

Dinosaurs: American Museum of Natural History Collections — the Museum’s first app for the iPhone and iPod touch — has added illustrated stories documenting the discovery of two more fossils, the herbivorous Psittacosaurus and its three-horned cousin, the Triceratops. The app, which debuted in February, features more than 800 photographs, models, and illustrations from the Museum Library archives as well as fascinating stories behind the fossils on display in the fourth-floor David H. Koch Dinosaur Wing.

In addition to highlighting two new fossils, the updated app also includes new images in its striking interactive mosaic of the Tyrannosaurus rex. Users can zoom in to the mosaic to scan individual photographs, each of which includes a caption with additional information, comment on an image, or share it with a friend via email. The app is geared towards paleontologists of all ages, whether they’re looking to enhance their Museum visit or to dig up information on the Museum’s dinosaur fossils from anywhere in the world.

“The app is an expansion of what you can see in the halls, a way to provide a broader context for how specimens are discovered, mounted, and put up,” says Lowell Dingus, a research associate in the Museum’s Division of Paleontology who contributed to the app.

When it was first released, Dinosaurs was the most downloaded free education app on iTunes for three weeks. So far, it’s been downloaded more than 397,400 times.

Last month, the Museum launched the AMNH Explorer, a groundbreaking free app that’s part navigation system and part personal tour guide. Using the Museum’s new public WiFi system, Explorer pinpoints a user’s location and offers turn-by-turn directions to exhibits, cafés, restrooms as well as information about more than 140 objects and specimens, special tours, and a way to share the experience via Facebook and Twitter. (Read early reviews of Explorer.)

To download Dinosaurs: American Museum of Natural Collections or Explorer, click here.

Museum’s Groundbreaking Explorer App Generating Buzz in Tech World

Thursday, July 29 4:22 pm

The American Museum of Natural History’s Explorer, a groundbreaking free app for iPhone and iPod touch that is part navigation system, part personal tour guide, is already garnering rave reviews.

Explorer is “nothing less than state-of-the art,” writes Gizmodo’s Kyle VanHemert. “I roamed around the fourth floor of the museum this morning with the Explorer as my guide…. it was an excellent adventure.”

Using the Museum’s new public WiFi system, Explorer pinpoints a user’s location and offers turn-by-turn directions to exhibits, cafés, restrooms, and other facilities as well as information about more than 140 objects and specimens, custom tours, and a dinosaur treasure hunt. Visitors can create their own tours on the spot, share their adventures by posting to Facebook and Twitter, and bookmark favorite objects to receive links with more information to explore from home.

The app can be downloaded for free to iPhone or iPod touch devices, and visitors can also borrow one of more than 350 devices from the Museum at no charge.

“While many museums have released apps in the past few years—including the Louvre, the Brooklyn Museum, and the Graphic Design Museum in Breda, The Netherlands—this is by far the most robust we’ve seen,” writes Lauren Indvik on Mashable, a news site for social and digital media, technology, and web culture. “We’re especially impressed that the Museum is ensuring that the technology is available to everyone by offering both devices and tech support to visitors.”

Explorer, which was also recently featured on NY1, is the latest mobile app from the AmericanMuseum of Natural History. Earlier this year, the Museum launched Dinosaurs: The American Museum of Natural History Collections app, which showcases the Museum’s world-class fossil collection.

For more on the Explorer, check out the how-to video below.