Those walking around downtown may have noticed the silver medallions at the bottom of the street signs. Coupled with your smartphone, they are a ticket to explore Alberta prehistoric past.
The town has launched a digital wayfinding website where visitors can scan on each of the 20 medallions to learn more about the dinosaurs which lived in the Drumheller area.
“It’s a great way to have locals and tourists interact with the signage, making an offline object online,” says developer Brian Yanish.
The signs work via QR code scanning or through the NFC chip in Android and iPhones which allow users to tap the object to bring up the website. The website provides pulls information on the dinosaur from Wikipedia.
Yanish says there is a lot of potential to further develop the app with video or augmented reality.
The project was partially funded through grant money and was developed in partnership with the town, Travel Drumheller, the developer, and a Calgary company which produced the signs. The emblems were curated by the Royal Tyrrell Museum and designed by Laura Syvertsen, a local artist.
