Developing the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard app

SURFACE IMPRESSION

Developing the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard app

with

PORTSMOUTH HISTORIC DOCKYARD

Portsmouth Historic Dockyard

• Many attractions contained within the dockyard• Lots of opportunity for historical interpretation in the

dockyard itself

The concept

• To produce a resource that allows visitors to get more out of their visit, not just one or two attractions

• To avoid problems with previous interpretation/guides• Interpretation boards clutter up the space• Audio “wands” have a tendency to disappear• Printed material goes out of date

• Solution: create a smartphone app that visitors can download to their own devices

About Surface Impression

• Specialists in digital media for museums & heritage• Founded in 2001• Very experienced in

• Web development and interactives• Online collections• Social media / engagement• Mobile and in-gallery implementation

• Used to working with HLF, Arts Council and other funding bodies

The plan

• Lead with “tours” rather than attractions• Different tour topics or audience groups• To be free and available on Apple and Android• People to follow geo-located points of interest• Use internet mapping (Google / Apple) to

show the points• But also have a strong narrative thread that

could be followed

Early designs

Content

• Nick pulled together the content from a variety of sources to create a coherent narrative

• Content is entered into a content management system so the app can be updated at any time, without needing a new submission to the app store

Locations

• Measuring location accurately can be tricky• We’ve tended to use photography – either on GPS

enabled cameras or ordinary smartphones• But if you use your own phone, it can be inaccurate• Inaccuracies also creep in from human error

– Where you’re standing to take a photo is the recorded location– But it’s easy to think the thing you photographed is being

located• Some points have had to be adjusted using online maps

Field tests

• Once the app was coded up and largely functional, we held a testing session at the Dockyard

• Representatives from the organisation and the attractions attended

• They tried out the tours and assessed the content

• We also did a “secret shopper” test with two children

What we found

• The overall concept and narrative approach was well received

• Inevitably some details needed to be changed

• The news feed / calendar was not translating well from website to app

• The Google/Apple maps for the Dockyard didn’t make sense

• Location-based unlocking of content was too crude

Solution 1: selfies instead of unlocking

• Instead of tying achievements in the kids tour to “unlocking” locations, we encouraged them to take photographs of themselves at the spot instead

• They can then show their “album” of found places to get small rewards

Solution 2: a drawn map

• Instead of using online maps, we adapted a diagramatic map that Portsmouth Historic Dockyard had commissioned for print

• But we had to modify it heavily, repositioning the elements so that they accurately represented latitude and longitude

What’s next

• Imminent launch on Apple App store followed by Google Play

• Tweak content over the winter, ready for push in spring 2015

• Market the app to visitors – opportunities:– Signage in queue areas– On tickets, brochures, ads– Social media, website etc– Optimisation on App store and Google Play

Contact

Peter PavementSurface Impressionpeterp@surfaceimpression.com@peterpavement01273 958600

Nick HewittNational Museum of the Royal Navynick.hewitt@nmrn.org.uk@NickHewitt402392 724391