PRESS RELEASE
Virtual tourism allows public to visit some of the city’s top attractions
16th Dec 2020, A Cork software technology firm has joined forces with some of the city’s top cultural attractions to give the public a virtual look inside their doors.
Digisoft is working with Nano Nagle Place and the Crawford Art Gallery to offer virtual tours of the cultural spaces. This is hoped to encourage more people to visit these places physically as well as virtually.
As a gesture to the Cork culture community, Digisoft created digital twins of the museum and gallery which they are offering free of charge.
At the Crawford Art Gallery Digisoft will be providing an online virtual tour of the gallery which will be hosted on the Crawford Gallery website. This will allow people to view the gallery from their homes.
Fearghal Kelly, CEO of Digisoft said: “We want to help support the tourism sector and drive awareness of what cultural landmarks such as the Crawford Art Gallery have to offer. This virtual tour will aim to demystify galleries for people who may never have previously visited. It will ensure that the gallery is available to all people and make it more accessible. It is a new way of bringing the gallery collection to people and ensuring it is a welcoming space for all.”
Digisoft also worked with Nano Nagle Place to develop their audio guide mobile app. They built a similar app for EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum in Dublin. The app also enables experiences for visitors with extra vision or hearing requirements.
As part of the Digisoft and Nano Nagle Place collaboration, they created a Digital Twin of the venue – which is a virtual tour that people can enjoy without being physically there. This Digital Twin can be accessed within the Nano Nagle Place mobile app and people can download the NNP app from the app store.
Mr Kelly said: “During COVID and beyond, virtual museum access is going to become more relevant and to that end we have invested in producing a virtual showcase of some wonderful places in Cork such as Nano Nagle Place to allow the population of Cork and beyond to experience these fantastic places even if they can’t visit in person.”
The product that Digisoft offers to the tourism and heritage market is called Waymigo and it is a mobile app based audio guide and virtual reality platform to replace traditional handheld audio guides. A “bring your own device” strategy is expected to be the new normal for visitors looking for immersive experiences in museums and tourist attractions.
Claire Lynch, Events and Marketing at Crawford Art Gallery: “We have been working with Digisoft on scanning the building and next steps on making these virtual tours and exhibitions available online to our public. We feel this will be a great way for visitors to orientate themselves before visiting and be a really useful learning tool for schools and community groups which will in turn enhance the galleries’ learn and explore programme.”
At Nano Nagle Place, broadcaster and musician, Evelyn Grant, was commissioned to provide the visually descriptive tour, making the site more accessible for those with visual impairment.
Evelyn said: “Listening to the historical details, while actually being in the space where Nano lived and worked, really has the feeling of a bit of time travel. What extraordinary times the Penal Times were, and what extraordinary women Nano and her followers were, to achieve what they did. The site itself has a wonderful feeling and the app gives so much detail and insight. There are many, many layers to discover and explore.”
For more information, please contact
Niamh Hennessy, Healy Communications on behalf of Digisoft
086 3110156 // niamh@healycommunications.ie
ABOUT DIGISOFT
Digisoft is a global software technology company with three main divisions serving the Tourism & Culture, Life Sciences and Media & Entertainment sectors.
The company provides licensed software products allied with product research and development services for its blue chip customers. Specialisms include digital transformation leveraging VR/AR, Digital Twins, IoT and Smart Apps. Digisoft is headquartered in Cork, Ireland. For more information go to www.digisoft.tv or www.waymigo.com