Parcourir Laval Interactive Tourism App
Bringing Laval’s Heritage and Thematic Routes to Residents and Visitors
Categories
Smart City & GIS
Technologies used
Native iOS and Android | Sidekick Tourism CMS
About The Client
The City of Laval, in Quebec, has more than 420,000 residents and welcomes more than 730,000 tourists a year. To give both audiences access to its heritage information, the City wanted an interactive tourism app whose content it could manage itself, in real time.
Project Overview
The Project
The Context
Laval was looking for a flexible digital solution that suited the mobility of its users. The project had two sides. The app had to inform residents about activities in the city, and show tourists its cultural sites through walking routes. It also had to stay interactive, so it wouldn’t end up as a tourist guide frozen in digital format.
Challenges and Technical Constraints for an Interactive Tourism App
The Challenge
The challenge was to serve two audiences in one interactive tourism app. Residents wanted to know what was happening in their city, while tourists wanted to discover its heritage on foot. The City, for its part, needed to publish and edit that content in real time.
Constraints
Residents and tourists with different needs, to serve in the same app
Heritage content and thematic routes that the City had to be able to edit in real time
Visitors on the move, who needed information that matched where they were
An interactive guide that had to offer more than the City’s printed tourist material
Our Approach and Solution for Tourism App Development
A Customizable Solution Built on Sidekick Tourism
Sidekick Tourism is a customizable product, and the City of Laval was able to make it its own. Our team deployed it as native iOS and Android apps with the essential features of a travel guide. These features can replace the City’s printouts with a more immersive experience.
Points of Interest and Thematic Routes Based on Location
The app suggests points of interest and routes based on the visitor’s location. Custom maps and GPS help visitors find their way, and each route groups points of interest around a theme, for self-guided walking tours. For every point of interest, visitors find photos, videos, audio guides, texts and web links. A calendar lists upcoming events, and visitors can share what they find by Facebook, Twitter, email or text message.
A Dedicated CMS for Real-Time Content Updates
The app runs on a CMS dedicated to the City. Laval’s team uses it to broadcast its own content, edit it and build routes by grouping points of interest around a theme. Changes show up in the app in real time.
Before-and-After Photos You Scratch Like a Lottery Ticket
Some points of interest come with before-and-after photos. Visitors scratch the photo like a lottery ticket to discover what’s underneath. Features like this one bring an interactive experience to the visit, as the City had asked.
Results and Benefits for Laval's Interactive Tourism App
Results
Parcourir Laval is available on iOS and Android. Residents and tourists explore the City’s heritage through thematic routes and geolocated points of interest, in an interactive tourism app that can replace printed material. The City of Laval publishes and updates its content itself, through its dedicated CMS.
Why the City of Laval Chose Sidekick Interactive for Its Interactive Tourism App
Sidekick Tourism gave the City of Laval a customizable solution, with native iOS and Android apps and a dedicated CMS to manage its content. Laval got a travel guide app built around its own heritage.
“Parcourir Laval is a perfect blend of history and new technologies that allows tourists to discover the attractions of the city in a different and attractive way. This type of product fits perfectly with the objectives of a smart and modern city.”
Benoit Collette, Director, Culture and Recreation Department, City of Laval
Sidekick Interactive's Expertise in Tourism App Development
Our tourism app development work combines native iOS and Android development with geolocated points of interest and content management tools that the client controls. Maps and location data also tie this work to our GIS app development expertise, and to smart city apps that help municipalities reach residents and visitors.
