14 DAY TRIAL // Google Glass may soon be used for a rather cool purpose – as a museum tour guide, thanks to GuidiGO, who has announced a new set of partnerships.
The new partnership is a result of the Glass at Work program recently launched by Google, which named a few companies that the Internet giant specifically certified to make apps for businesses. GuidiGo was one of the five names revealed by Google on Monday.
The new app allows users to get directions within a museum, for instance. Simply saying “Start tour” will trigger the tool to provide information of your surroundings. Since everyone follows a different viewing path, the device uses image recognition to identify works of art and other exhibits.
It then quickly brings up relevant information about that particular piece. The tool also provides narrated audio guidance, as well as indoor and outdoor navigation instructions to help travel the grounds. For bigger enclosures, this can certainly come in handy.
Google Glass explorers can already take advantage of this for some 200 museums. Museums also have the opportunity to offer the tours for free to members of the explorer group.
“We have completely redesigned our solution to take advantage of Glass features and the specific needs of visitors. Via our platform, and with no technical skills, every museum and cultural site can now easily publish their existing content, automatically optimized for Glass,” said Damjan Stankovic, GuidiGO's head of user experience.
He has also pointed out that GuidiGo Glassware is not just a variation of the smartphone and tablet application. Instead, the solution has been completely redesigned to take advantage of what Google Glass has to offer and to fit the specific needs of visitors. “Via our platform, and with no technical skills, every museum and cultural site can now easily publish their existing content, automatically optimized for Glass,” said Stankovic.
GuidiGo is part of the Glass Certified Partners that Google created, which are basically companies authorized to develop enterprise solutions for the controversial device. The company’s mission is to inspire people to connect with art and culture through a mobile storytelling experience.
The other companies that are part of the group come from a range of fields. For instance, AugMedix provides tools for doctors and allows them to spend more time with patients than filing paperwork on a computer, while APX Labs creates Skylight, the leading business software for Glass, which is used by Fortune 500 companies in various industries.