Education World

The American Museum of Natural History in New York City displayed on Thursday an innovative mobile navigation app on new wireless network to provide visitors with a new-generation museum experience.

Based on three years of research, the Explorer APP 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 its 45 permanent exhibition halls, theaters, restrooms and cafes.

“The Explorer enables the Museum to connect the public, whether they are visiting on site or online, to its extensive resources in new and engaging ways and to redefine what it means to be a museum in the 21st century,” said Ellen V. Futter, President of the American Museum of Natural History.

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. The Explorer also features customized tours, a fossil treasure hunt, and social media links for posting to Facebook and Twitter.

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.

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.

The American Museum of Natural History is one of the world’s preeminent scientific, educational, and cultural institutions. The Museum houses a permanent collection of more than 32 million specimens and cultural artifacts.