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.

AMNH Launches First iPhone App

Monday, February 01 10:56 am

The American Museum of Natural History has gone mobile with our brand-new iPhone and iPod Touch application. The Museum is famous for its collections, and the time has come to bring the highlights to everyone carrying around an Apple gadget, or two.

With Dinosaurs: American Museum of Natural History Collections, AMNH’s first mobile application, the Museum is sharing its amazing treasures by showcasing the fossil collection. It’s now available to download for free through iTunes.

Not only does the Dinosaurs app open the vaults to our fossil archives, it allows users to browse through over 800 stunning images via an interactive mosaic. Six of our popular dinosaur fossils, including the Tyrannosaurus rex, are featured along with stories about their discoveries and the fossil-hunters behind the bones.

So, next time you’re walking along the fourth floor of the Museum, take out your iPhone or iPod Touch and follow along as you pass one of the featured dinosaurs. You might just discover something new.  For more information check out our mobile app site.