Discover Anywhere Mobile, a Toronto-based software and services company specializing in location-aware applications for mobile devices and platforms, introduced the DiscoverPad.
The DiscoverPad has taken much of the work it performed on the development of its popular iPhone app platform, which is primarily designed for destination marketing organizations, and ported it for the iPad.
This is, however, not just a straight port from one device to another, but a considerable re-work to take advantage of the iPad's larger screen and other features.
Like Discover Anywhere's other applications, the DiscoverPad platform is built using the live data that a destination has already published. Discover Anywhere does all of the maintainance for the DiscoverPad application, including ensuring the data is up-to-date and managing the
Apple App Store submissions.
The DMO gets a downloadable iPad application that is branded for the destination. Traveler get an application on their iPads that is specific to the destination they are visiting, similar in nature to the various iPhone applications that Discover Anywhere has submitted on behalf of its destination clients.
The Discover Anywhere website says the DiscoverPad application includes:
- Complete events calendar;
- Complete listings database, organized by theme/category;
- Viewing of listings and events on a map and in “detail mode,” showing contact information, listing details, a photo album and integrated videos;
- “Map locking” to explore what’s available in a particular neighbourhood;
- The “My Trip” organizer, allowing quick drag-and-drop planning for multi-day trips;
- “Send to iPhone,” allowing visitors' trip plans to be wirelessly transferred to their iPhones;
- “Upload My Trip,” to allow visitors to store their trips for sharing and printing -- each trip gets it’s own web page with listing descriptions, Google Maps and contact information;
- “E-mail My Trip,” to allow people to mail their trip plans to their friends and also to provide opt-in capture email addresses for direct marketing;
- “Kiosk-mode,” for optimal deployment to hotels and visitors centers;
- Pre-planned trips for getting visitors started and to highlight points of interest in the destination; and
- Discover Anywhere Mobile’s “no CMS” solution, designed to minimize the work the DMO needs to do to maintain its DiscoverPad (and other Discover Anywhere Mobile) solutions.
The DiscoverPad application is slated to be available to existing and new customers starting September 2010.