Interactive Maps and Multimedia Guides

Maps have always carried more than directions

What lies beyond the hill? Where does this road go? What happened here? People have always used maps to record not just where things are, but what they know about a place and want to pass on.

The Babylonian Map of the World survives on a clay tablet from around the sixth century BCE, combining a picture of the world with cuneiform text about how people saw it at the time. The medieval Mappa Mundi in Hereford Cathedral shows cities alongside plants, animals, biblical events and mythical creatures. Maps like these were not only for finding your way. They held their makers’ knowledge, stories and view of the world. (Babylonian Map of the World, British Museum on Smarthistory; Mappa Mundi, Hereford Cathedral)

That role is still what interests us most. A map gives an overview and shows how places relate to each other. Digital media adds choice: visitors open what interests them, uncover different layers and decide how far into the story they want to go.

One point on the map opens a story

Behind one location there might be a few practical details, an old photograph and a short audio story. Another might open an animation, a conversation with a local resident or a then-and-now comparison.

So we treat the map as the way into a multimedia guide. Visitors see where content belongs and how it connects to its surroundings, then choose what to explore. The same guide can cover cultural and natural heritage, days out, local producers, places to eat or an events programme.

The order of information matters. Addresses, access and opening hours should be easy to find. For people who want to dig deeper, there is a longer story, a gallery, a film or a challenge. Content unfolds as far as each visitor’s curiosity takes them.

Illustration or terrain: every map speaks its own language

Planning a visit calls for distances, routes and accurate positions. Getting to know a region can work better with an illustration that brings out its landscape, architecture and landmarks. A history subject might invite comparisons between periods, while a museum map can link objects to the places they came from.

Depending on the brief, we create illustrated maps, work with geographic basemaps or combine them with a 3D view of the terrain. At the Kukuljević Visitor Centre in Ivanec, the map of Mount Ivančica shows trails, mountain huts and viewpoints, and visitors can download selected trails to their phone with a QR code. Zagorje Stories uses an illustrated map with local landmarks and historical figures.

The visual style helps people understand the subject, while the interface has to make it clear what can be opened and how to get back to the overview. When a map is stylised, precise directions need their own solution. Illustration and navigation do different jobs, but they have to work together.

Visitors choose the order

One person is looking for the nearest museum. Another has a free afternoon, and a family is planning a day out. A map can give each of them a different way into the same place: search, themes, a choice of content or a ready-made tour.

Tapping a marker can open a story, compare photographs, pick a theme or play an audio recording. On site, a QR code on an interpretation board leads straight to content about that spot. We add geolocation where it helps people find their way or shapes how they explore.

Every action needs a clear response and a next step. That way, visitors follow connections according to their own curiosity instead of everyone clicking through the same sequence of screens.

A game that leads to the next place

When we want visitors to take an active part, the visit can become a game. A clue leads to the next location. A short task draws attention to a detail on site. A quiz connects what someone has just seen or heard, and a collection of discovered objects shows how far they’ve come.

That is gamification: goals, challenges, feedback and progress built into exploring a place. Points, badges and rewards can be part of the concept, but what interests us most is the link between the task and the content. What will visitors notice, connect or try because they are playing?

In a story about a mill, a task might ask visitors to put the parts of the mechanism together. In a story about a writer, it might ask how a real place found its way into a book. The game becomes a way into the subject, while practical information stays available for anyone who just wants to look around.

From our work

Zagorje Stories

For the Biser Zagorja Tourist Board, we conceived and produced a multimedia app that connects places and historical figures through a map, animated biographies and augmented reality. QR codes on interpretation boards link each location to digital content. The map even has its own song, which partly works as a guide to using it. (About the project)

The tourist board now also presents Zagorje Stories through quizzes and a game at authentic locations, which shows how new ways of exploring can grow around the same map. (Zagorje Stories on the tourist board’s website, in Croatian)

Southern Bilogora

For the Southern Bilogora Tourist Board, we are developing a guide in which visitor information, local stories and exploration come together with Grga as the host. Themed routes linked to the writer Mato Lovrak and to Ivan Nepomuk Jemeršić are also in preparation, with tasks that reveal the next stop.

We are developing the map, the content and the game as separate parts. This lets the guide grow in stages, and each new experience is tested before it becomes part of the public version.

Next step: a map shaped by its visitors

A map can adapt to what visitors choose. A short questionnaire could ask whether they are interested in nature, history, family days out or local food, and then highlight the relevant places. Saving favourite places and building a personal list for the visit are natural next steps.

1. Choose interests
2. Relevant places
3. Personal list
4. Separate sign-up for news

This also opens up a connection to a CRM, a customer relationship management system. With a separate, voluntary sign-up, visitors could receive news after their visit about a subject they chose, or an invitation to a related event. For a destination, it is a way to stay in touch and introduce local experiences through content that visitors actually care about.

Choosing interests, saving progress and signing up for updates are different functions, and each needs a clearly agreed purpose and use of data. We plan these options around the needs of each project, along with any links to existing databases, booking systems or other services.

A map that keeps working after launch

We start with the audience, the place and the content. Who will use the map, what are they looking for, and where will they open it? A website for planning a trip, a phone out on a trail and a shared touchscreen in a visitor centre each need a different approach.

Next, we prepare the structure of locations and content, the visual concept and a prototype. Together, we work out what already exists, what needs researching and checking, and which photographs, films, animations and sound we will produce. A representative example lets us test the whole experience, including languages, readability, controls and loading speed.

Accessible ways into the information are planned from the start: a clear list of locations, text alongside audio, captions and controls that suit the audience. Offline use, supported devices and location features are decided around the real conditions of use.

We also agree who will update opening hours, add new locations, maintain translations and check links. A well-prepared content management system lets the guide keep up with the life of the place it represents.

Have places and stories you’d like to connect? Send us a short description, an existing map or a list of locations, and we’ll work out together what kind of guide makes sense. Get in touch

How we workApps and games: from prototype to delivery →