To help you diversify your games, GuidiGO Studio offers 9 types of challenges as standard features:

• Open question
• Multiple Choice with texts
• Multiple Choice with images
• Fill-in-the-blanks (with or without clues)
• Photo challenge
• Photo challenge with an Augmented Reality object
• Magic Scanner
• Solving a mystery word / a mystery code
• Solving a jigsaw puzzle

Do you want even more variety? Here are some possibilities!

First, consider using the “audio” field of the challenge. This way, you can invite the player to identify animal cries, tool noises, musical instrument sounds, etc.

You can also use standard challenges to create other types of games. Here are a few different ways to use them.

1. Matching game

Possible uses:

• Match each image with the correct statement
• Match works of art or characters with the correct era, artistic movement, etc.

2. Sorting game

Possible uses:

• Place events in chronological order
• Sort animals by speed or weight, sort monuments by height, length of construction, etc.

3. Completing an image

Possible use:

• Look at a work of art and put the missing details back in place.

4. Spotting the hidden detail

Possible use:

• Look at a work of art or a scene and spot a detail in it.

5. Finding the missing object

Possible use:

• Look closely at a work or scene to identify the missing detail.

6. Solving a rebus

Possible use:

• Involve younger children, especially those who are not yet proficient in reading.

To learn how to create each of these challenges, go to our online help center where you can access the files we used to create the examples above.

Interested? Try out all the GuidiGO features with a free 30-day trial.

We have come a long way since the first version of GuidiGO in 2012! And so many kilometers walked by visitors! To keep them walking and to make it even more enjoyable, we have made the app more user-friendly and improved the user experience, taking into account customer and visitor feedback from over the years.

GuidiGO V3 is the synthesis of your most frequent requests:

• Modern interface that adapts to each device, regardless of screen size or resolution
• The same interface, whether you are using iOS or Android
• Instant and more fluid access to tours and treasure hunts: 
  • Free access, without having to log in
  • Immediate launch, without having to download
• 1-tap access to each type of content: audio / video / text & photo gallery / 3D panoramas / challenges
• Optimized offline use, with highly accurate vector maps for outdoor tours
• Improved gameplay experience, with resizable challenge images
• Improved experience for “logbook” type tours (narrative centered around the written word, without audio or video)

And as always:

• Games and treasure hunts for family experiences
• Customized multi-level maps for indoor tours
• 360° panoramas for immersive experiences that can be used with or without a VR headset

On the technical side, GuidiGO v3 has been entirely re-coded in React Native, one of the most popular languages for mobile devices today. Concretely, this means that it will be easier for us to offer you new features on a regular basis. And maybe even some surprises by the end of this year…

Until then, we’ll let you enjoy GuidiGO v3, and we can’t wait to hear what you think about it!

Install GuidiGO from the App Store or from Google Play.

Note: We recommend that you delete any previous versions of the GuidiGO app before installing this update.

Photo by Ivan Samkov from Pexels

The 3D Explosion

In recent years, 3D image production has become much more accessible. Techniques like photogrammetry in which an object is photographed from many different angles so it can then be reproduced in 3D, used to require complex and costly equipment. Today, you can create a 3D model of an object or even an entire scene using nothing but your smartphone.

Similarly, the diffusion of 3D models took a giant leap forward with the arrival of the WebGL standard, which makes it possible to display 3D images in any web browser. This is where Sketchfab comes into play. In only four years’ time, the platform has become the leader in publishing and sharing 3D models, with close to a million models shared by its members.

Sketchfab and GuidiGO: a Natural Synergy

Though Sketchfab initially appealed to designers wishing to share their creations, their community has expanded over the years to include a variety of museums. Over 350 museums and cultural sites all over the world are now using Sketchfab, including the famous British Museum, and the Royal Museum for Central Africa in Brussels – who published no less than 355 models alone. Sketchfab now boasts a collection that would be the envy of a number of institutions the world over.

It soon became obvious that Sketchfab and GuidiGO, the leading storytelling platform with its 5,000 commented cultural sites and works, would be a perfect match. It is no surprise, then, that the 3D works on Sketchfab now interface with GuidiGO’s tour-creating tools.

GuidiGO now natively supports Sketchfab 3D embeds and lets you add 3D and VR illustrations to your stories.

Tremendous potential for GuidiGO users

This incredible functionality is available to anyone who creates a tour on GuidiGO. It is especially useful when accessing tours remotely, or when planning a visit. When it is impossible to make a trip to a cultural site in person, you can still enjoy the works on display and the cultural space itself.

For a few months now, the new GuidiGO web app has featured street views and 360° panoramas,” explains Corine Barbazanges, Head of Marketing at GuidiGO. “But 3D models open the way to even more possibilities. Our users are going to be able to create amazing tours based around a theme, rather than on the exploration of one specific site. They can even create their ideal collection by bringing together works from different museums with absolutely no geographic constraints.

This is the idea behind the 3D Imaginary Tour created by GuidiGO as a demo. In this tour, you will hear the story of the Nefertiti bust and the Roman Colosseum. As you listen, you can look at every detail and rotate the objects to see them from multiple angles. You can also learn about Protoceratops, a dinosaur that you can spin around in 3D as it walks across your screen.

Now, museums can offer virtual tours to anyone unable to visit in person—particularly schools with limited means. A teacher could also create a tour based on a thematic selection of works and then use it as part of their curriculum—they could even invite students to create their own tours as a class project. Art lovers might also create a gallery of their favorite works and enrich them with personal commentary.

Of course, a virtual tour can never replace an on-site visit. As GuidiGO CEO David Lerman is well aware:

There is nothing like the feeling you get from real contact with a work or space. But the fact is, no one has the means to visit every museum in the world. That’s why art books and documentaries exist. So why not have virtual tours as well? Augmented with Sketchfab resources, the GuidiGO web app makes it possible to view works in 3D and in great detail; it also enriches the experience with audio commentary and visual references. In my opinion, this is one of the best remote visitor experiences ever created so far.

The experience is sure to appeal to museums and culture lovers; especially since opening an account is free on both Sketchfab and GuidiGO.

What are you waiting for?

Would you like to create a tour of ancient Egyptian artifacts, animal sculptures throughout the ages, or the collections at the British Museum? It couldn’t be more simple.

Start by creating your tour in GuidiGO Studio. Decide which stops you want to add, then enrich them with text, audio and video content. If you’d like to add 3D content to a stop in your tour, simply copy the URL of the model from Sketchfab then paste it in your stop, in GuidiGO Studio:

Finally, publish your tour in just one click. A few minutes later, it will be accessible from any web browser.

Note: Sketchfab 3D models are not yet available in the GuidiGO mobile apps.

An instant mobile experience

The new GuidiGO web interface is entirely responsive and gives you immediate access to tours on any mobile device, no matter what the screen size. All the users have to do is open their web browser when they arrive on site to access the tour. There’s no longer any need to install an app. Twice as fast as the former version, tours now load almost instantaneously. The new version is just as user-friendly as the native GuidiGO app, and the visitor experience is still optimized, no matter what mobile device or web browser is used.

The new web app makes accessing tours much faster and easier. Each stop of the tour can even be triggered with a QR code or BLE beacon. However, unlike the native GuidiGO app which makes it possible to access tours offline, the user does need an active internet connection for it to work. (The native app also includes in-app games and purchase options soon to be available in the web app.)

Street View Tours

Tours are now accessible directly via a web browser. This is a game-changer because it makes tours accessible remotely for those who are unable to visit sites in person, whether for financial, geographic, or physical reasons. It also makes it possible to preview a location before visiting it, or go on a virtual field trip in which an entire class can explore cultural and heritage sites from the other side of the world – like here, in Rome:

or at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California:

If the tour takes place outside, or inside a building already mapped by Google, the GuidiGO interface automatically synchronizes with Google Street View data. For other tours, the author simply needs to associate a 2:1 image with each stop, using GuidiGO Studio when building the tour.

The angle and zoom can also be adjusted so the user can look in the right direction as they proceed.

A Look at the Updates

Here is a preview of the main features of our new web interface:

• The tour map is now at the heart of the experience, and is always permanently running in the background.
• The list of stops is optimized: the user can now view more stops at a time without having to scroll.



• One key element of the new web app is the card grouping together all content related to each stop of the tour: the address, texts, images, audio, videos, and panoramic views. All accessible in one click:



• The display has been optimized to allow more space for the images.



• Navigating between stops is now more user-friendly and permanently accessible.



• Users can find their geolocation using any device.
• In Street View mode, the location of each stop is indicated with a pointer (as in the mobile versions of GuidiGO).



• It is now possible to share published tours in Private mode with people of your choosing.

Explore your own tours right away in Street View mode or in the Web App

Can’t wait to see your own tours using the new GuidiGO web interface? It couldn’t be more simple:

• On guidigo.com: With the Start button on your tour page – if the tour is public.



• In GuidiGO Studio: By clicking on the URL for your tour in the Publish tab. The URL appears as soon as you publish the tour, whether it is in Public or Private mode.

A fully redesigned interface and a design specific to each type of screen

Clean, crisp, and clutter-free, the new GuidiGO interface is intuitive and easy to navigate, with more direct access to the menus. The iPhone app makes use of the full iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus screen. Not content to re-use the iPhone interface for the iPad, we designed the iPad interface specifically for the iPad and its larger screen.

This redesigned interface isn’t just bells and whistles. Whether you are using the iPhone app or the iPad app, you will find a more powerful application, entirely redesigned to make the content pop and to be incredibly user-friendly — this is an interface that you will actually enjoy navigating.

In designing these new apps, we listened to tour authors and their concerns about quality and how users interact with their tours, and also to the users themselves, who always want simplicity and guidance.

The map – the heart of it all

The GuidiGO tour experience now starts at the map. From this central point users can access the audio-visual content for each stage of the tour as well as additional content like videos and games.

Also from the map, users access one central menu with the basic tour features: summary, means of access, useful links, etc. This menu also allows users to set audio preferences, review the tour, update the tour, or restart the game. If the tour is a treasure hunt, the map displays a second menu that shows inventory, virtual objects won or discovered, clues, and game stats.

The content looks better than ever – creating an even more immersive experience

« Good design is obvious. Great design is transparent » – Joe Sparano.

We embraced this philosophy and made it our own. The GuidiGO app design fades into the background to emphasize the content. With an entirely transparent interface and magnified, full-screen images that can even be animated (a feature that can be deactivated), it’s now even easier to lose yourself in the content.

Of course, you will still find one unique GuidiGO feature that hasn’t changed: images that sync perfectly with the audio and pull users into the story.

On the iPad, treasure hunts take full advantage of the larger screen, offering an interface that encourages open-ended questions, multiple choice questions, and word searches.

A new twist on your content: the 360º virtual tour

The map now integrates the Street View feature. So your exterior tour is now accessible to all users — including users who can’t visit your site in person for whatever reason: economic, geographical, or physical.

While listening to your content, users can take a virtual stroll through the neighborhood that you invite them to explore. They can enjoy 360º views and can even zoom in on details in the environment. The app uses the gyroscope to turn the iPad into a window opening onto a new destination.

This new use is proving to be extremely useful in an educational context; students are now free to tour educational sites the world over.

An app that makes the most of Bluetooth LE and iBeacon

Another new feature: the app can now interact with beacons. Install these little Bluetooth sensors in your museum, enter your beacon numbers into GuidiGO Studio, and offer your visitors a liberating museum experience. A unique symbol will alert visitors to nearby works with content in the app.

Good news for GuidiGO cultural site clients: we have partnered with one of the primary beacon manufacturers, Kontakt.io. This is a great opportunity for you to test beacons at your location at a special price. Contact us to learn more.

More than 600 total workdays to bring you nothing but the best

We don’t always realize just how much work is required to create an app so refined that it sets new standards for an industry — a universal app optimized for all users:
– whatever their screen (iPhone 5, 6, 6 Plus, iPad, iPad Air, iPad mini)
– whatever their iOS

Some trivia for the curious —

The new GuidiGO app for iPhone/iPad is:

• More than 300 screens (the image above is just a preview) — a considerable undertaking, even before tackling the 1st line of code!
• Tens of thousands of lines of code
• 600 man-days of design (UX & UI), coding, and tests
• More than 20,000 words in six languages
• …not to mention many epic battles, a few laugh riots, and several all-nighters (It was our Designer and our CTO who insisted that I add that ;-)

I’m sure you can’t wait to test out the results of so much work for yourself. And you can — the apps are available here.

We’ll keep you updated!

If you’re a Glass Explorer, this new tab gives you access to the QR code of your tour. Just scan it, and you’ll be able to test your tour inside the GuidiGO glassware!

Today, we offer you a great feature to enrich your visitors’ experience. You can now embed one or even several videos directly into a stop. Check out the new button “Add video” at the bottom of the stop page.

Unlike the video links, the embedded videos will be available offline for users once they have downloaded your tour.

Your video clips will be automatically encoded to minimize the space used on their device. However, downloading your tour will of course take longer and that’s one of the reasons why we strongly recommend you to upload only short videos (maximum 3 minutes) – for this and also for a better user experience.

Studio side, note that the video can take some time to upload – according to its size – and also that the publication of a tour including videos can be longer than usual.

Hope you will enjoy this new feature!

Well, good news: this has now been made possible!

You can test every challenge in your tour, whatever its type, and check the questions, answers, number of tries, etc. Once on the challenge screen, click the “Answer” button and you’ll also be able to preview the reward screen.

You can even launch a realistic simulation of your “Magic scanner” challenges (with the real sound of the scanner!) and see the artifacts appear.

Last, not only can challenges be easily reviewed, but also the whole content of the inventory (artifacts, messages, letters to complete a mystery word, and jigsaw puzzles).

Now let your visitors have fun… and have fun yourself creating your game tours!