William Nyffeler has joined OpenBrolly. He has expertise in several technology areas. He is French but lived in Scotland for many years. He also brings the company mascot.
September 5, 2011#
OpenBrolly welcomes William to the team.
October 27, 2010#
Major new iPhone App launched for UK’s largest national park
We are pleased to announce that the iPhone app for the Cairngorm National Park, developed by OpenBrolly, is now live. Press coverage is in this article.
This particular contract had an interesting set of technical challenges to overcome. There is no 3G mobile phone coverage and limited 2G coverage (i.e. no coverage in some places). The client wanted to be able to guide visitors to accommodation, attractions and restaurants across a huge geographic area and therefore location-relevant results were required. Up to date information is essential, particularly for special offers and events.
We addressed these challenges through load balancing data. Pre-loading all the data was not an option – it would rapidly become out of date and, in any case, the volume of data would have meant that the app would have to have been downloaded over WiFi (an Apple restriction) rather than anywhere with a mobile signal. Instead the app gradually populates with information, always looking for the latest information if it can get it.
You can download the application from the app store for free. Search for “Cairngorms”.
March 20, 2009#
Google Launches Street View in UK
Google has officially launched Street View in the UK. The service currently covers major cities such as Birmingham, Edinburgh and London, although the Google camera van has been seen in small towns and villages across the country (and here in Forres!) which will greatly extend its reach in populated areas.
Google Street View provides 360° horizontal and 290° vertical panoramic street level views and can be accessed by via Google Maps and Google Earth. As the services are rolled out, it will provide an important additional resource for urban Screen Agencies and film makers – offering high resolution photography of frontages and streets from almost every town in the UK. Streetview can also be integrated, where available, with web brochures produced by the MovieSite system.
January 20, 2009#
Museum Demonstrates Google Earth Potential
We’ve received a heads up from Stephen Badham, chair of the MovieSite user group about an impressive use of Google Earth.
The Museo Nacional del Prado has created “Masterpieces” on Google Earth, enabling users of the application to zoom in to the Museum on a map. However, it goes a step further – you can enter the building and view high resolution images.
As Stephen points out, the potential for using Google Earth for film locations is huge: both for marketing and for film tourism. Some ideas:
- Take advantage of Google Earth’s ability to display photographs of locations on a map, and set up a tour of recommended locations for an enquiry. This could be the next generation of web brochure, available now.
- Add links to film trailers, film publicity stills and location shots, and allow users to fly across your region stopping when something is of interest.
- Create links from Google Earth back to your locations database.
MovieSite supports custom integration with Google Earth. Contact David Sim for further information.