To make this stunning experience possible, the team at the Fine Arts Museums selected the new version of GuidiGO Studio that now integrates beacons/ Bluetooth LE technology and Augmented Reality effects. The Fine Arts Museums also partnered with Antenna International^TM who produced the content using the GuidiGO platform.

Visitors can now walk around the gallery and immerse themselves into Keith Haring’s universe through fascinating historical content about his life and work. When approaching a particular artwork, contextual audio and visual content appears automatically on Glass. Augmented reality effects help to deepen the visitor’s understanding of the artwork by zoning in on hidden details not easily visible or noticeable to the eye.

David Lerman, CEO of GuidiGO, explained: “Wearing Glass as you visit the gallery is like embarking on a journey through time, with visual archives, contextual music and testimonials. Within minutes, visitors completely forget they are even wearing Glass, as the screen subtly turns on only when needed, revealing stories within artwork.”

Colin B. Bailey, Director of the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, said: “As an institution located in a cradle of technological innovation, the Fine Arts Museums are pleased to participate in an initiative that provides models for a deeper engagement with the collections and exhibitions under our care. We’re excited to incorporate this pilot multimedia tour into our broader educational mission.”

David Falter, President and CEO of Antenna International said: “GuidiGO’s platform was easy and flexible to work with and in combination with our content, created this amazing Glass experience. We see great potential for producing stunning immersive tours in museums”.

To try it out, visitors need to have access to Glass and to activate the GuidiGO Glassware. They can then get the tour “Keith Haring: The Political Line” by registering here.

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Exhibition Keith Haring: The Political Line, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, December 2nd – February 16th.

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Museums that wish to offer a Glass experience – the way they would rent an audio tour – only need to buy Glass and activate the GuidiGO Glassware. By not having to build their own Glassware, museums save time and money, and can focus on their core activity.

Designed to be non-intrusive and hands-free, GuidiGO uses image recognition to identify unique works of art and display additional relevant content (audio, video and images), while visual cues allow visitors to discover what is invisible to the naked eye.

GuidiGO already has 250 guided tours in 27 destinations ready for Glass, from the Impressionist history of Montmartre, to the magic of the Hagia Sofia in Istanbul, and the hidden secrets of San Francisco!

“GuidiGO is reinventing guided tours, and effectively replacing audio guides,” said David Lerman, the CEO of GuidiGO. “It’s like having a personal human guide with you all the time. A unique experience that’s only possible with GuidiGO for Glass.”

GuidiGO’s glassware required more than 500 man-days to develop, including prototyping with two major museums on the West Coast – an Art Museum and a Science Center.

“Glass Rooms”, an educational program to help museums migrate to Glass

To help Museums and cultural institutions migrate their content to Glass, GuidiGO will launch this summer the “Glass Rooms” educational program with free webinars, workshops, and personalized customer support.

“GuidiGO will also provide assistance to Museums and cultural institutions that would like to offer Glass to their visitors, on an on-going basis or just as a one-off event,” added Lerman.

Google just announced that it has selected GuidiGO for its Glass at Work program. Museums and cultural institutions who wish to offer Glass to their visitors, now have access to a turnkey solution.

This cutting edge solution enhances the visitor’s connection to artwork with amazing, multidimensional storytelling, bringing the museum experience to a whole new level.

Over the last 6 months GuidiGO has conducted several successful pilot programs with two major museums on the West Coast – an Art Museum and a Science Center, working closely with curators, education and visitor departments to create the most advanced intuitive Glassware.

A revolutionary experience for museum visitors

Designed to be nonintrusive, GuidiGO for Glass offers a revolutionary learning experience for museum visitors, without interfering with the works of art. Images and videos automatically appear at the most appropriate times during the narrative audio, visual cues allow them to discover what is invisible to the naked eye, image recognition identifies the artwork and automatically launches the right content. In addition to image recognition, GuidiGO for Glass provides indoor navigation and positioning, enabling visitors to enjoy a tour without worrying about where to go next… and, of course, totally, hands free!

“GuidiGO Glassware is not just a variation of the smartphone and tablet application” points out Damjan Stankovic, Head of User Experience at GuidiGO, “We have completely redesigned our solution to take advantage of Glass features and the specific needs of visitors. Via our platform, and with no technical skills, every museum and cultural site can now easily publish their existing content, automatically optimized for Glass.”

Create immersive guided tours for Glass at the speed of light

Indeed, one of GuidiGO’s major strengths is that it offers any cultural institution the opportunity to create immersive guided tours for Glass at the speed of light. GuidiGO Studio, the online publication tool, assembles existing content – audio, images, videos, maps – and avoids lengthy and costly technological creation and development.

“The museums that participated in our pilot program were surprised, not only by the ease of use of GuidiGO Studio, but also by the autonomy that it gives them,” continues David Lerman, CEO of GuidiGO. “Being able to test out a tour which has just been created, directly, in the Galleries, and then tweak it again and retest it, in less than 15 minutes, provides a productivity edge that has impressed the museum management and their teams.”

The new voice command “Start a tour”, specifically requested by GuidiGO, will now appear alongside the already famous “Take a picture” and “Get Directions”.
GuidiGO will soon be available through MyGlass. This means museums and cultural sites will be able to access the Glass technology and make it available to their visitors without writing a single line of code.

“One of our main objectives is to make art and culture more appealing to the greatest number of people,” says David Lerman. “We believe that GuidiGO for Glass can contribute to this greatly by giving museums and cultural sites the ability to offer more emotions to their visitors.”

Museums and cultural sites who wish to make their tours available for Glass Explorers can do so, free of charge, with a standard plan. Museums wishing to offer Glass to their visitors can choose from various licensing options.