There are two broad types
of tourism visitor orientation and interpretive digital product.

Visitor orientation digital product is the "need to know" content helping people to make informed choices and explore unfamiliar environments.

Interpretive digital product by comparison is the value add. It helps people attribute values and meanings to the experience they are engaged in.

Visitor orientation digital material should be delivered on non-discriminatory platforms. These can communicate with people irrespective of their choice of language, mobile device or extent of pre-trip preparation. Web apps and interactive PDF smartphone guides offer this capability.

Interpretation digital product ideally then sits on top of this core foundation of essential visitor "need to know" content. "Want to know" material can afford to target specific user groups with value add product such as may be delivered in a single language to people who are prepared to download a tourism app to their device in order to access this digital interpretive experience.

It follows that interpretive digital content is largely driven by technological innovation.

As new and improved augmented and virtual reality apps evolve for example so too do new opportunities emerge in relation to how these can be used.

Digital visitor orientation information however rests upon content. The technology is powered by the internet browser on people's mobile devices.

This means that content based resources like tourism web-apps have a long term relevance as their functionality is only improved - not threatened - by third party technological innovation.

You can walk across to this headland overlooking the Three Sisters along a 600m surfaced path leading off from beside the visitor centre.

This is a special place for Aboriginal people. The valleys to the south were formed in the Dreaming by Gurangatch – an ancestral [burringilling] being. Gurangatch was a gigantic eel – part fish, part reptile – who lived in a very deep waterhole at the southern end of the mountains.

Pursued by the tiger quoll hunter Mirragan, Gurangatch ducked and weaved through the countryside, carving out the valleys and filling the rivers with the water he dragged behind him from his original waterhole.

The long ridgeline you can see here is Kings Tableland. This was the place where Gundungurra people followed breaks in the clifflines to travel between the escarpment and surrounding valleys.

The European name for this large mountain seeming to stand on its own here is Mount Solitary. A name such as this however had no meaning for the Gundungurra Aboriginal people. For them, Mt Solitary was called Muumu.

Muumu is likely to have been an integral part of a cultural landscape defined through its connections to its ancestral past and its immediate importance in the life of the Aboriginal community.

The wilderness you see here extends south for nearly 100km. All the waters in these valleys drain into Warragamba Dam - a major reservoir built in the 1950s to provide water for Sydney.

Narrowneck Peninsula is a dramatic feature of the Katoomba landscape. You can visit Cahills Lookout along the Blue Mountains Drive touring route to get close up views of this mountains icon.

ABOVE: Section from the Three Sisters web app that describes the view and offers a chance to see the scenery even on days when heavy cloud comes in and obscures the panorama.

Web app user guides are tourism digital product that provides content direct to users via the internet browser on their mobile device.

They are designed for use in areas where there is internet coverage. Here they provide simple one click access to content without the need to download any third party software to connect with the product.

This content can also be translated on the fly into the language of the user's preference in accordance with the way they have configured their internet browser.

Connection is provided by simple one click access using QR codes or alternatively be conducting a simple search such as for "Falls User Guide". The third option for access is to enter the URL as provided into the internet browser.

Building the web-app with static web pages also means it can be easily delivered in remote areas by setting up a local area network driven by a solar powered Raspberry Pi server.

FALLS CREEK USER GUIDE

This web app is designed to meet the needs of the transition point where marketing stops and getting out and about begins.

Having arrived in the resort people need to be able to easily locate the facilities they need and then to get out and about on their chosen activity.

The user guide focuses on these needs by having discrete summer and winter sections that ensures that visitors are dealing with the information of direct relevance to them.

A feature of the resort is the fact that there is good internet coverage within the precinct.

For people looking to embark on activities out on the surrounding Bogong High Plains an interactive PDF guide is included that allows them to embed maps and trail information onto their phones for use in areas with no coverage.

The guide directly assists in the clarity of the resort signage materials by freeing these up from the need to convey things like directory details.

These are very demanding in terms of signage real estate in addition to changing year on year. Having a digital support platform working in closely with the signage means that it can focus on the delivery of stable, long term content in a cost effective manner.

In addition the issue of providing information in a variety of languages is solved by effectively publishing all the core user information in HTML in the user guide. This means that people can translate this on the fly via their mobile devices internet settings.

FALLS CREEK ARTS AND HERITAGE TRAIL

In important aspect of the Falls Creek User Guide is the way in which is built so as to allow for the easy addition of value add interpretive content.

With the core digital platform in place it becomes a simple process to then add additional content.

The development of the new Arts and Heritage Trail for the alpine village took advantage of this in 2017.

It allows visitors to walk around the village and to appreciate the way in which it developed from its origins in the years after the end of WWII and the construction of the high levels of the Kiewa Valley Hydroelectric Scheme.

A particular aspect of the guide is the way in which it recognises that many people to the resort will not realise that it is actually home to a community which includes Australia’s highest primary school.

Accordingly the video content for the guide uses the students from the school as ambassadors to describe the features people can see along the walk as well as sharing their favourite things about Falls Creek.

The innovative qualities of the heritage trail were recognised in September 2017 when it was commended in the Victorian Community History Awards run by the Victorian Public Records Office as being an outstanding local history project presented in a unique format.

BALLINA COASTAL RECEATION PATH

The Ballina Coastal Recreation Path is a major initiative to connect the town of Ballina with the village of Lennox Head some 10km to the north. The initial section of the path is of particular cultural significance as it traverses the East Ballina Aboriginal Place.

This Aboriginal Place recognises the massacre of an Aboriginal community on the site in the late 1850s.

The cultural sensitivities and sadness amongst the local Aboriginal community in relation to this event made the interpretation of this trail section a task requiring careful consideration and consultation.

This was undertaken by the local Council.

Our input involved us developing an interpretation plan to give effect to the wishes of the community.

A central plank of this response was the development of a web app for the path that allowed Aboriginal elders to talk about the significance of the site to visitors as they travelled through the Aboriginal Place.

The central issue here was that they did not want this material broadly published on the web.

The notion of people only hearing these stories when they were on Country was a prospect they could however support.

The fact that there is good internet coverage in the area made this a simple project to deliver via a web app.

It presents the audio recordings in a video format that includes a simple narrative line allowing people to read the text at the same time as they hear the story being told.

THREE SISTERS USER GUIDE

The Three Sisters and the adjoining Echo Point precinct at Katoomba are one of Australia’s best known natural features.

The site is visited by an unusually diverse array of nationalities. This makes the provision of multi lingual information options a central issue for the delivery of visitor services there.

Alongside this factor there sits the problem that during the colder months it is not uncommon for the whole outlook to be enveloped in cloud such that people simply have no vista to experience.

The web app addresses both these issues by in the first instance publishing all its content in HTML such that it can be translated on the fly by the user's own internet browser.

It also features a sweeping panorama photo that people can pan across and identify elements of interest from.

Additionally the detailed nature of the photo taken at optimal light conditions means that it in effects serves as a pair of binoculars people can use to examine landscape sections in detail.

The guide especially provides users with information on the local walks they can undertake in the surrounding precinct as well as other venues of interest to them in the local Katoomba area.

Transport and trail link options by which they can access these facilities are highlighted.

As internet coverage in the precinct is very limited, a PDF walks guide is provided for people to download and embed onto their phones prior to setting off for walks around the escarpment and especially those down into the valleys.

CHARTERS TOWERS LEGENDARY LANDSCAPES

This guide is interesting as it provides an example of how user guide product can effectively be rolled out in stages.

The driver for its production was the construction of town entry displays at either end of Charters Towers.

The idea here is to get people to divert from the highway running alongside the town to stop in and take in the variety of services and activities on offer.

To this effect the web app provides a simple resource they can reference for immediate first hand summaries of the facilities and experiences on offer at Charters Towers. The opportunity exists to develop more detailed content in relation to these experiences.

CHARTERS TOWERS FIRST WORLD WAR TRAIL

This trail was developed as part of Australia’s nation wide initiatives to commemorate the involvement of local communities in the First World War. It was opened on Remembrance Day - 11 November - in 2014. Charters Towers has a particular connection with the conflict owing to the initial capture of the German colonies in New Guinea at the outset of the conflict and also to the fact that Hugh Quinn grew up in the town. Quinn later lent his name to one of the best known outposts in the Gallipoli campaign. A feature of the trail is that it combines a real life experience in the form of a signposted circuit around Lissner Park in the town, with the fact that all of the trail content is embedded in the cloud in the form of the web app. This allows for the use of extended connected narratives as well as multi media content. Of particular relevance to local school groups also is the fact that it includes a large amount of primary reference material they can access to help students assess this content and form their own assessments and conclusions in relation to the material being presented.

Interactive PDF smartphone guides work with PDF reader apps [e.g. iBooks] already installed on a user's mobile device. They are formatted to mimic the functionality and operating environment of their companion tourism web-app product.

Smartphone guides are content only packages that work on any mobile device to embed data onto the phone for use in areas remote from internet coverage. Being data only they have workable file sizes between 15-30MB and so can be downloaded without needing wi-fi access as required for app downloads in excess of 50MB.

Packaged together with web app solutions such as used at the Three Sisters they provide a complete solution taking advantage of the ease of internet coverage where available whilst offering a companion product for use in surrounding areas where the coverage may not be available.

AUSTRALIAN ALPS SMARTPHONE GUIDE

This guide was the prototype version we developed in conjunction with the Australian Alps Liaison Committee in 2012 to develop the structure and function of this product.

It came about owing to the need to update the touring map for the Australian Alps and recognising that there was the opportunity to transfer this function to a digital platform.

The product has been effective at delivering a steady download stream in the order of 3500 units per year since this time.

It was updated in 2017 to deliver both content updates and to include subtle modifications to the operating environment as derived from other more recent smartphone guide products.

GREATER BLUE MOUNTAINS TRAIL SMARTPHONE GUIDE

This smartphone guide was the developed in 2016 in collaboration with the Blue Mountains Accommodation and Tourism Association.

It took advantage of the extensive network of tourism operators comprising the association to rigorously test and evaluate the product as a fit for purpose digital product meeting the needs of the marketplace.

The nuances to the PDF smartphone guide structure that resulted have significantly advanced the guide’s functionality and been incorporated across the other guides in the set.

CLIFFTOP WALKS SMARTPHONE GUIDE

This guide is focussed on the needs of visitors to the Echo Point precinct and the Three Sisters Aboriginal Place at Katoomba.

The trailhead sign at the start of the track network leading into the valley walks features a QR code link advising people not to take a photo of the map, but rather to download the PDF walks guide to embed trail maps and notes onto their phone.

The guide was established in 2014 and since this time has proven a very effective and consistent means of delivering data to users. Downloads track closely with both weather and general use patterns and indicate the effectiveness with which QR codes can be used to deliver content to users when connecting with a product that people are actually interested to seek out.

FALLS CREEK SMARTPHONE GUIDE

Whilst the Falls Creek Alpine Resort has good internet coverage that is used by the delivery of the Falls User Guide product, the surrounding Bogong High Plains does not offer coverage.

People venturing out from the resort into more remote parts of the surrounding region are hence invited to download the PDF smartphone guide before setting out in order to embed track content onto their phones.

LORD HOWE ISLAND SMARTPHONE GUIDE

We developed this smartphone guide in 2015 for the Lord Howe Island Board to assist specifically with the roll out of their new island pest species quarantine regime.

The guide was designed to provide a ready reference source for both local residents and visitors alike.

Extensive tracks details and the compilation of maps covering both the terrestrial walking trails and marine national park zoning requirements are designed to provide a one-stop-shop for users seeking orientation information.

There are two broad types of tourism visitor orientation and interpretive digital product.