American Museum of Natural History Launches Explorer Mobile App, Now Available

The American Museum of Natural History today launched the American Museum of Natural History Explorer, a groundbreaking mobile app designed as an enhanced navigation tool for indoor use.

Funded with a grant from Bloomberg, the Explorer App, available from the App Store, works with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad and uses WiFi to function as an "indoor GPS" within the Museum, pinpointing a user's location and offering turn-by-turn directions through more than 500,000 square feet of public space that encompasses 45 permanent exhibition halls, theaters, restrooms, cafés, and Museum shops. The new wireless network established for the Explorer system allows visitors to connect to the internet, effectively transforming the Museum into a single enormous WiFi hotspot.

In addition to serving as a guide, the Explorer is also an educational resource that provides visitors with additional information on more than 140 specimens and objects on display, including such iconic exhibits as the blue whale and the Tyrannosaurus rex. The Explorer features customized tours, a fossil treasure hunt, and social media links for posting to Facebook and Twitter-a dramatic advance over standard audio and handheld guides that provides a next-generation museum experience.

Explorer is the latest offering of the American Museum of Natural History's expanding digital platform that enables the Museum to connect the public-whether they are visiting on site or online-to the Museum's extensive resources in science, education, and exhibition in new and engaging ways and to re-define what it means to be a museum in the 21st century. By anticipating the ways that people access, learn, and share information today, the new digital platform integrates the experience of visiting the Museum with a variety of online and mobile offerings that extend the Museum's impact past its walls, drawing the public into the wonder and excitement of discovery from anywhere they carry their mobile device.

Earlier this year the Museum launched its first iPhone app-Dinosaurs: The American Museum of Natural History Collections-which showcases the Museum's world-class fossil collection through more than 800 images and stories about eight popular specimens' discoveries. An astronomy app, which highlights the research and exhibits of the Frederick Phineas and Sandra Priest Rose Center for Earth and Space, will be launched in the fall. Early in 2011, the Museum will also launch a new website featuring more content about the Museum's research, collections, programs, and exhibitions as well as comprehensive search functions to help visitors navigate the wealth of the Museum's resources online.

"Throughout its history, the American Museum of Natural History has been a pioneer in presenting science and culture to people in ever-new ways that are accessible, engaging, informative, and inspiring," said Ellen V. Futter, President of the American Museum of Natural History. "Now, the trail-blazing Explorer applies cutting-edge technology to animate and enrich the museum-going experience. Reflecting the multi-dimensional ways that we discover, absorb, personalize, bookmark, and share information today, Explorer connects visitors to the Museum and its content in new ways that, we hope, will encourage a deeper connection to science and nature."

The Explorer runs on the Museum's free wireless network, which will debut in conjunction with the app's launch. Visitors will be able to download the free app to their own iPhone, iPod touch, iPad or to borrow one of more than 350 devices the Museum is making available at no charge. The App Support Team, a group of 25 New York City high school students trained by the Museum volunteer office and wearing distinctive blue t-shirts, will be on hand to assist visitors with this new technology during the summer.

"This system will enhance the visitors' appreciation for the Museum's world-renowned collections by combining the traditional audio guide interpretive tour with navigational GPS functionality to provide a new generation of visitors with an unparalleled self-guided Museum experience," says Erana Stennett of Bloomberg. Bloomberg has previously sponsored the Rose Center for Earth and Space audio tours and the popular Moveable Museums, interactive exhibits that travel to schools, libraries, and community organizations within New York City's five boroughs.

"We wanted to put the latest mobile technology in visitors' hands and provide them with an app that works not only as a personal navigation system but also gives an exciting look at our collections from anywhere in the world, connecting to social networks through email, Twitter, and Facebook," said Linda Perry-Lube, senior vice president and chief digital officer at the Museum. "The task of building a system capable of mapping visitors' locations inside of the Museum was monumental and has laid the groundwork for future development. Explorer sets the standard for a new type of Museum experience in the digital age."

American Museum of Natural History Explorer features include:

· "Indoor GPS": You can use the Explorer to find your real-time location within the Museum and receive turn-by-turn directions to get to an exhibit, restroom, café, or shop using the quickest route possible.

· Customized Tours: Plan a tour before your visit or on the spot. Choose from Museum highlights or existing tours of over 140 Museum exhibits featuring iconic displays such as the blue whale, T. rex, and the Great Canoe.

· Fossil Treasure Hunt: Use clues to find specimens and exhibits in the Museum's renowned fossil halls.

· Sharing the Experience: Share an interesting exhibit through email, Facebook, or Twitter.

· Bookmark: Bookmark an item and receive a link to more information from amnh.org that you can explore after your visit.

· Visitor Information: See opening times and directions to the Museum plus information about key events.

Approximately 300 wireless access points are distributed throughout the Museum and provide the network's connectivity to the Explorer in addition to acting as sensors to determine a visitor's location. Based on the signal strength from a given handheld device, which is determined by its proximity to nearby access points, the network maps the user's location in the Museum. The location analysis is performed by a Cisco Systems Mobility Services Engine (MSE), which is capable of simultaneously tracking thousands of wireless devices. The Explorer App constantly polls the MSE for location changes and updates the map display on the handheld device accordingly. Using this system, visitors can chart a unique course through the various halls and exhibits of the Museum. The network of access points also allows visitors to wirelessly connect to the internet. Thousands of visitors can take advantage of the Museum's public network every day.

Spotlight Mobile, a Webby Award-winning software development firm that was founded in 2002 by researchers at the Human Computer Interaction Lab at Cornell University, worked with the American Museum of Natural history to build the app. Spotlight Mobile specializes in mobile and web technologies, and its Meridian platform provides both interpretation and indispensable way-finding and navigation tools. Accenture, a global management consulting, technology services, and outsourcing company, assisted in installing the new wireless network throughout the Museum. Cisco Systems worked with the Museum to install the wireless infrastructure as part of the Explorer project. Approximately 300 access points throughout the Museum are controlled by a series of Cisco Systems 4400 Series Wireless LAN Controllers.

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American Museum of Natural History

The American Museum of Natural History is one of the world's preeminent scientific, educational, and cultural institutions. Since its founding in 1869, the Museum has advanced its global mission to explore and interpret human cultures, the natural world, and the universe through a wide-reaching program of scientific research, education, and exhibitions. The Museum accomplishes this ambitious goal through its extensive facilities and resources. The Museum houses 45 permanent exhibition halls, state-of-the-art research laboratories, one of the largest natural history libraries in the Western Hemisphere, and a Permanent Collection of more than 32 million specimens and cultural artifacts. With a scientific staff of more than 200, the Museum supports research divisions in Anthropology, Paleontology, Invertebrate and Vertebrate Zoology, and the Physical Sciences. In 2006, with the launch of the Richard Gilder Graduate School at the Museum, it became the first American museum with the authority to grant the Ph.D. degree. The Museum shares its treasures and discoveries with approximately 5 million on-site visitors from around the world each year. Museum-produced exhibitions and Space Shows can currently be seen in venues on five continents, reaching an audience of millions. In addition, the Museum's website, amnh.org, extends its collections, exhibitions, and educational programs to millions more beyond the Museum's walls.

The American Museum of Natural History Explorer App and the Dinosaurs: The American Museum of Natural History Collections App are available for free from the App Store on iPhone and iPod touch or at www.iTunes.com/appstore/. American Museum of Natural History Explorer App and the American Museum of Natural History Collections App require iOS 2.2.1 or later with iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, iPhone4, and iPod touch (second generation) and iPod touch (third generation).

Find the Museum on Facebook at facebook.com/naturalhistory or visit twitter.com/AMNH to follow us on Twitter.