Acoustiguide Newsletter Vstory: Image Recognition and Augmented

Acoustiguide
Newsletter
www.acoustiguide.com
Vstory: Image Recognition
and Augmented Reality
Acoustiguide has partnered with visual
recognition and augmented reality
specialists, Eyeducation, the creators of
Vstory. This development in technology is
an outstanding enhancement to the offering
of Acoustiguide.
The technology has been developed to
change the way content is delivered to
users. For example, a visitor to an art
gallery downloads the app or uses a
device handed out on-site, holds up the
player in front of a painting or an object
to access a range of specifically designed
content. Available for Android or iOS, this
content can be a mix of video, images,
audio or text. On top of that, it is available
with or without a Wi-Fi connection.
Following the fantastic reception to
this technology in the fashion industry,
Acoustiguide and Eyeducation are now
collaborating to bring versatile, easy to use
solutions and to create visual recognition
and augmented reality to the museums and
Acoustiguide Newsflash!
heritage market, taking apps to the next
level. Visitors are looking for innovative
and intelligent apps which will engage
them and offer something extra.
“Espro Acoustiguide is always aiming at
the enhancement of our systems to meet
the changing needs of our sophisticated
cultural tourism market. With billions using
Smartphones strong enough to enable
the processing of Visual Recognition
technologies, it became very important for
us to bring this technology to our clients
and their visitors.
The combination of Eyeducation’s leading
edge platform, Vstory, and Acoustiguide’s
digital guiding interpretation and content
creation will allow our two companies
to offer museums the most attractive new
functionality to meet their visitors’ demands
in the digital age”.
Israel Gal, CEO of the
Espro Acoustiguide Group
Hampton Court Palace has updated the content
in line with the renovations that have taken place
for Henry VIII’s Apartments. It is a welcomed
addition to the already outstanding audio tour.
The audio guides are included in the ticket price
and are given to all visitors of the Palace.
Opening in March, the Henry Moore
Foundation will be exhibiting an amazing
collection of Rodin Sculptures alongside
the exquisite Henry Moore Collection. We
have created additional content for the Opus
multimedia guides. It’s not to be missed.
“I strongly recommend you take the
recorded tour, which is excellent”
Sunday Telegraph review at the
Royal River: Power, Pageantry and
the Thames Exhibition, National
Maritime Museum, London
More news inside
Acoustiguide Newsflash!
We have recently
been working on a
family tour for the
Tower of London.
Expected to be very
popular with families
visiting in the Summer
months, this is an important new offering to the
current adult tour available in 11 languages
as well as in a tour for the visually impaired.
“Audio guides especially well done; so
imaginative and informative”
Client feedback from the Roman Baths
The brand new London Bridge Experience
and London Tombs audio tour is now up and
running. Incorporating outstanding content
created by the London Bridge Experience with
our Opus triggering system to automatically
start content as visitors explore the grizzly and
gruesome rooms! A scary but exciting project
for us and a very welcomed new client to the
Espro Acoustiguide Group.
“… best to get the audio guides
to ensure you get the whole
fascinating story.”
Tripadvisor review for Titanic Belfast
Westminster Abbey, an Opus client since
2008, has purchased additional Opus players
which are included in their entry price for the
one million visitors per year. Last year we were
involved in re-designing the visitor route around
the Abbey which incorporated re-working
some of the content. We are delighted to work
with such a prestigious and historic site and
look forward to many more additions to their
tour in the future.
“…The audio guide comes with the
price of your ticket – use it, and you’ll
learn a lot about the place. If you
listen to each section in the guide,
you will be spending about an hour
inside, which is well worth it.”
Tripadvisor review for
Westminster Abbey
Our longstanding client, Chelsea Physic
Garden has revamped their audio tour,
including new content on different parts of the
garden. Acoustiguide really loved this project
the first time around so it has been a pleasure
to work on it again and we are delighted that
Jon Snow, a friend of Chelsea Physic Garden,
agreed to narrate the tour.
“My two eight year old children spent
several hours absorbed and enjoying
the Acoustiguide commentary.”
Visitor feedback from
Churchill War Rooms, London
About Acoustiguide Limited
Acoustiguide Limited is the UK subsidiary
of the Espro Acoustiguide Group.
More than 50 years ago, Acoustiguide
revolutionised the audio tour industry,
and the company has remained at the
forefront of creativity and technology
ever since. Espro Acoustiguide Group
companies around the world provide
programmes for many of the most
prestigious museums, heritage and
historic sites, tourist attractions, city tours
and corporate clients. Acoustiguide
offers complete creative and production
services, the most advanced audio and
multimedia technology, comprehensive
on-site management and most recently
offering apps for mobile platforms.
For more information, please
visit www.acoustiguide.com
From Acoustiguide Limited’s London
headquarters we manage clients in UK,
Ireland, Italy and Spain.
Equipment and Content
Acoustiguide Limited has over 60 current clients
with 15,000 players managed from the UK alone.
Worldwide, the Espro Acoustiguide Group
has seven subsidiaries with 12 distributors
in 33 countries managing over 500 active
clients, 60,000 audio devices and
12,000 hours of recorded audio in over
45 languages.
Our Opus multimedia guide has been
undergoing continued development and
remains at the forefront of innovative
audio equipment for use in museums
and heritage sites since its launch. With
the Opus Content Management system
available for the client to make their own
updates, Opus has grown into one of the
most used audio guides in the country
and across the world. There are currently
40,000 Opus players at museums around
the world and approximately 15,000
of these are at clients managed by
Acoustiguide Limited.
We also have a range of other types of
equipment suitable for different sites such
as Guide-U for live group guiding for
groups, exSite which is suitable for sites
that require a traditional audio guide and
in 2012 we introduced Kipmi, which is a
sold as an off the shelf device, ideal for
city tours and walks.
Apps have progressed significantly in the
past couple of years, and we have created
a large number of specifically tailored
Opus Touch™ and Opus Click™
apps for a wide range of clients in multiple
languages and customised with innovative
features. In 2013 we will be enhancing
our offering even further with a number of
significant developments to be announced
throughout the year.
Some of our clients include
Tower of London, Westminster Abbey,
Hampton Court Palace, Roman Baths,
National Gallery of Ireland, Canterbury
Cathedral, Titanic Belfast, Cardiff Castle,
Shakespeare’s Globe, Banqueting
House, Scottish Parliament, Henry Moore
Foundation and Guggenheim Venice.
The Espro Acoustiguide Group can offer a
solution that is tailor made and ideally suits
the site and their visitors.
SS Nomadic
Acoustiguide Newsflash!
experience just what it would have been
like to be a first or second class passenger
at this time.
Nomadic and her slightly smaller sister
Traffic at Cherbourg © P Delaunoy
At the start of the year we won a tender to
work with Tandem Design to interpret the
outstanding SS Nomadic ship. Based in
Northern Ireland, within a stone’s throw
of Titanic Belfast, SS Nomadic is the next
must see tourist attraction in the area.
SS Nomadic is the last surviving White
Star Line vessel, who famously built Titanic
in the same location. The tour gives the
visitor the opportunity to step aboard
this amazing vessel and be transported
back in time to its launch in 1911and
National Gallery
of Ireland
“To work on the SS Nomadic is a truly
once in a lifetime project. As the closest
tangible link to Titanic herself the resilient
little ship, SS Nomadic, has also been
through two world wars and avoided
being scrapped on three occasions.
Now, restored to her former glory, she
is resplendent and stands beside
Titanic Belfast as a symbol of a city that
has rediscovered itself with a new sense
of pride in our ship building heritage. Our
interpretation on-board is respectful to the
beautiful surroundings and the approach
with Acoustiguide is key to this.”
Andrew Todd, Partner,
Tandem Design
It is expected that visitors heading to
Northern Ireland’s number one tourist
attraction, Titanic Belfast, will also visit SS
Nomadic and it is well and truly worth it!
Shakespeare’s
Globe
© Pete Le May
The Artist’s Studio by John Lavery
Photo ©National Gallery of Ireland
We are delighted to announce our
continuing work with the National
Gallery of Ireland. After a refurbishment
of the Gallery, we have created some
new content for the audio guide in all six
languages and will also be producing
apps in all languages for both the iOS
and Android platforms.
Acoustiguide and NGI have worked
together for more than 12 Years. We
are delighted to be extending our
contract and very much look forward to
witnessing visitor’s reactions to the newly
improved galleries.
From Spring 2013, Shakespeare’s Globe
is introducing group guiding equipment for
some of their popular live guided tours; in
addition to the Opus audio guides offered
in the permanent exhibition.
Key benefits to Group Guiding:
n Multiple tours can be conducted at once
n Tour guides can communicate with a
large group without straining their voice
n Limits external noise, making it easier for
the visitor to hear the commentary
n Enables more flexibility to the group,
leaders can continue the tour whilst all
members regroup
n Easy to handle and distribute
n Adds value to the visitor experience
“Overall testament to the quality of
the Opus, and the family tour
created for the device, comes from
visitor feedback which has been
overwhelmingly positive and continues
to generate interest by families to take
the tour of the Collection.”
Client feedback from
The Wallace Collection, London
With thanks to the lovely people at Atlas
AV, we will be producing an app for iPod
Touch players that will be used on-site at
The Guildhall in Londonderry using content
provided by the client; a new and exciting
app project for the team here.
“Alot of history and the audio tour
was top notch.”
Tripadvisor review for the Roman
Baths, Bath
We’ve been delighted to have been part
of Titanic Belfast’s outstanding first year in
operation. The audio guides have proved
popular with a range of visitors, especially
groups and visually impaired visitors who can
take a dedicated tour alongside their sighted
companions who listen to similar content on
the main audio tour.
“Acoustiguide staff are
without exception approachable,
and helpful.”
Client feedback from Cardiff Castle
At the beginning of the year we won a tender
with The Supreme Court in London to produce
an app for Android and iOS of the exterior of the
Court. Another exciting project for our creative
team; especially with so much interesting and
somewhat secretive content to delve into!
After a busy and successful year at Peggy
Guggenheim Venice, Galleria Borghese and
Doria Pamphilj we are delighted to renew
our contracts with all three clients and look
forward to working on some more exciting
and innovative projects together.
Southwark Council launched their Charles
Dickens inspired walking tour in September
2012. It is proved very popular already,
especially with local people and those with
a keen interest in learning about Charles
Dickens in his early life. The tour takes you
around the area of London where Dickens
first lived and takes you back in time with
wonderful stories and excerpts re-enacted by
the Bubble Theatre Company.
The Espro Acoustiguide Group
2012 was a sensational year for
the Espro Acoustiguide Group.
All over the world, the Group
is working with new clients to
produce brand new tours, work
with existing content or even just
provide our equipment for a client
to create their own tour using our
content management system.
Current clients for the Espro Acoustiguide
Group include:
n Musée du Louvre, France
n SF MOMA, USA
n The Art Institute of Chicago, USA
n Musée d’Orsay, France
n National Museum of China, China
n Musée de L’Orangerie, France
n Sydney Opera House, Australia
Some of the key Espro Acoustiguide achievements of 2012:
Australia
Germany
In Australia apps for museums
Last year there were a number of
and heritage sites have really taken
impressive wins for the German team.
off. Some of the most impressive apps
An exciting project that we were thrilled
that were developed last year were the
to win was providing Opus equipment,
Museum of Contemporary Art, Taronga
apps and creating the content for Dresden
Zoo and Goat Island which used GPS
State Art Collections which include works
functionality. These apps had their own
such as the Sistine Madonna. Available on
challenges and showed off the skills of
iTunes, just search for Acoustiguide GmbH.
our impressive partners Tristan Interactive
Another exciting win was the Palace of
and the initiative of our own in-house App
Tears in Berlin who is now offering iPod
Development Team.
Touch players, supplied by Acoustiguide
alongside our specialised cases and
France
multiple charging system. Of course, our
Some outstandingly innovative installations team were also instructed to create some
happened in some of the most prestigious
interesting content in multiple languages.
museums in the world over in Paris last
year. To begin, we won a very large tender Japan
to develop the official app for the Louvre,
The newest addition to the Espro
as well as bringing together their library
Acoustiguide Group, Japan has proved
collections, all with the help of our partners
most successful in 2012 and has gained
Tristan Interactive. The French team have
some wonderful new clients including
also created a family tour on iPad at
Kaiyukan Aquarium in Osaka, Todaiji
Musee d’Orsay.
Temple Museum in Nara, Steiff Nature
World (Toy Museum) in Chitose, Hokkaido,
and Pola Museum of Art in Hakone,
Kanagawa. The first Acoustiguide app
has been released in Japan; Vermeer’s A
Girl with a Pearl Earring from Mauritshuis
Museum. The enthusiastic team are taking
the market by storm so watch out for more
impressive projects in 2013.
n Beijing Botanic Garden, China
n Israel Museum, Israel
n National Palace Museum, Taiwan
n The National Museum of
Modern Art, Japan
n Le Grand Palais, France
n Museum of Contemporary Art, Australia
n SKD Museum, Germany
n The China Art Museum, China
Taiwan
One of the most exciting deals last year
was the contract extension with Taipei
101 Observatory. A client since 2005,
we have served over 7.1M visitors until
the end of 2012. In addition, we installed
our Opus Click™ players with our unique
and eye-catching transparent cases. We
also serviced the very large exhibition,
Moving of the Riverside Scene at
Ching-Ming Festival (The City of Cathay);
which had over 600,000 people for 66
days in Taipei, over 600,000 people for
52 days in Taichung and approximately
500,000 people for 66 days in
Kaohsiung, so it was a busy one to say
the least!
United States of America
Every year is a successful year for our
friends in the USA and 2012 was no
acceptation, with sales of our Guide-U
Group Guiding Equipment to the Capitol
Visitor Center in Washington DC, over 10
hours of new content production, an app
for the Barnes Foundation, and an app for
the Rodin Museum in Philadelphia with a
new camera function that directly uploads
visitors’ pictures to the Museum’s Flickr
page. With many more projects in the
pipeline, 2013 looks set to be equally, if
not more, successful.
For more information, please
visit www.acoustiguide.com
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©2013 Espro Acoustiguide Group
Acoustiguide Limited
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