The ‘Belfast Titanic Trail’ – which uses the latest GPS-based technology, the Node Explorer, to take visitors ‘back to the future’ on a unique interactive tour – won the Best Mobile Technology Award at the 2007 BT Goldeneye Awards.

The world’s first interactive multi-media digital tourism trail, it also was short-listed in the Tourism Technology category.

Launched last August, the ‘Titanic Trail’ has proved hugely popular with visitors looking to explore Belfast through its links with its most famous creation the RMS Titanic.  It leads users on a tour of the city sites associated with the Titanic story, from the grounds of City Hall to Queen’s Island, finishing by presenting them with a vision of how Titanic Quarter will look. 

Using a portable, robust media player, which is both user-friendly and ultra-modern, the Node Explorer uses a combination of the latest computer technology, still images, video footage, dramatic reconstructions, text and audio clips to take users on a fully interactive trip through time – telling the story of the Titanic and the people associated with her. 

The ‘Belfast Titanic Trail’ is envisaged as being the first of many such interactive tours which the council hopes to develop.
“We are committed to the ongoing development of new and innovative products which will appeal to the growing number of visitors to Belfast each year,” said Councillor Diane Dodds, chairman of the council’s Tourism Sub-Committee.
“The possibilities for this ground-breaking technology are virtually limitless, and it would be our hope that it can be developed to cover the entire city and offer much, much more for visitors to explore.”

John Bustard, Managing Director of Awakin Ltd., who developed this innovative project, added: 

“The Explorer has given us the ability to revolutionise the tourist experience, especially in the presentation and interpretation of heritage sites, visitor attractions, cityscapes and many other tourism experiences, offering our visitors an unrivalled engagement with the city, past and present.  We hope that this project will pave the way for more of these interactive digital tours – and even further expansion into other forms of digital media.”

The ‘Belfast Titanic Trail’ starts from the Welcome Centre in Donegall Place, from where the handheld Node Explorer units can be hired, for £8 for three hours.  For further details, contact the Welcome Centre on (028) 9024 6609. 

BY CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS, BELFAST CITY COUNCIL