The Taiwan Forestry Research Institute is offering tours to its botanical gardens by using smartphones, an official from the institute said yesterday.
With the use of a smartphone and an application that can be downloaded, visitors can explore the institute’s four gardens without having to book a tour guide or rent an audio guide, said Edgar Wang, a research assistant at the botanical gardens in -Hengchun (恆春), Pingtung County.
DIGITIZATION
Since 2007, the institute has been working to digitize information on the three other botanical gardens in Taipei City, Chiayi City and Ilan County.
The system works by using quick-response codes (QR codes), a matrix barcode carrying information that camera phones can read.
Digitization is a time--consuming process that requires constant updating of information online and in databases, Wang said.
“We are only halfway through with it,” Wang said.
GARDENS
In the Hengchun gardens, there are about 300 plants with QR codes, and staff members are trying to encode another 1,000, Wang said.
Two goals of the digitization program are to encourage self-help tours and to cut down on the volume of paper used to make leaflets, he said.
However, “though many visitors, especially young people, find the QR codes interesting, they often do not have the device required to read the codes,” he said.
There are volunteer guides at the gardens to help, if necessary, he said.
Wang said he was optimistic that the number of users would increase as smartphones become more accessible and affordable.
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