QR codes on Harrington Rainforest Walk
QR codes on Harrington Rainforest Walk
New technology has been used to make walking track information more accessible
Reaching Out -
LLCI015-053
The issue
Most people will have experienced an empty brochure box at the start of a walking track.
The brochure on the Harrington Walking Track has been updated however making it available to people in a timely and cost effective way, over time, was challenging. In addition, to reduce costs the brochure was printed in black and white, not colour, and there was limited space on a double-sided A4 brochure to give all of the plant information we wanted to share.
While an electronic version of the brochure was given to the Taree Visitor Information Centre so they could print it as required; and it was placed on the website for easy download, we wanted a more colourful and easily updatable way of providing track information, that was also cost effective.
The solution
The use of QR code technology on the track signposts allows anyone with a smart phone (ie most people), to scan an image of a QR code so they can link to the information on the internet. The smart phone user first has to download QR scanner software.
There are 9 stops on the Harrington Rainforest Walk and so 9 dedicated website pages were developed with information appropriate to each particular stop. The brochure information was used on the new web pages as well as additional information and colour photographs.
New signage with the appropriate QR code was installed at each stop along the track. The local Lions club helped Manning Coastcare volunteers with the installation.
Even though the image of the QR code shown here is not particularly clear, you should still be able to scan it to see how easily the QR code technology works! The other photo shown here is a screenshot of a typical page on the internet that you would view on a smartphone after scanning a QR code at Harrington Rainforest.
The impact
Information on the walking track is now easily accessible to everyone with a smart phone and changes can easily be made to the information by updating the information on the web pages.
Learnings
Doing anything for the first time is more challenging but in this case it was definitely worth it and next time will be easier. We now have a sign maker who makes it easy for us to make QR code signs; and we have worked out how to adjust the website for the particular pages.
Key facts
- QR code technology is a great way to make information always accessible
- the cost of QR code signage is minimal when compared to printing costs