Aixplorer: An Audio Guide System for the Route Charlemagne

News

• Nov 9, 2009: Aixplorer in the press. "Infos im Ohr, Sehenswertes" (PDF, 799.97 Kb).

• Jun 27, 2009: Aixplorer in the press. "Wir Informatiker vertrauen der Technik nicht" (PDF, 1.26 Mb).

• Jun 26, 2009: Aixplorer in the press. Geschichte hören, fühlen und anfassen (PDF, 215.56 Kb).
• Jun 26, 2009: Aixplorer in the press. Für das Rathaus bricht eine neue Ära an (PDF, 209.77 Kb)

• Jan 27, 2009: Aixplorer in the press. Ein Stadtführer, der auf Satelliten hört (PDF, 3.13 MB).

Introduction

Aixplorer is your mobile guide to the Route Charlemagne, Aachen's new tourist concept. It is a mobile audio and multimedia tour guide that will help you explore the city and its rich cultural and historical heritage.

Aixplorer will be available for rent starting Summer 2009 when Aachen City Hall opens as the first Route Charlemagne station. The guide will initially cover the City Hall and its immediate vicinity. In the future, Aixplorer will grow along with the Route Charlemagne and its additional stations throughout the city.

Once it has been launched, you will be able to rent Aixplorer devices from Aachen City Hall. Inside the City Hall, it provides you with audiovisual narrative about the City Hall, with several stories for each room. But you can also go outside, entering the market place, and Aixplorer will provide you with information about the City Hall façade and the other buildings and monuments around you.

A special feature awaits you in the Coronation Hall, where you will be able to participate in a medieval coronation feast in an audio virtual reality.

For questions about Aixplorer, please contact the lead developer, Gero Herkenrath.

Team

Aixplorer was funded as part of the Route Charlemagne, and commissioned by the City of Aachen.

• Concept and development: Media Computing Group, RWTH Aachen University
• Historical content: Institute of Art History, RWTH Aachen University
• Audio production: Inside Media, Aachen
• Shell design: Binom Produktdesign, Aachen
• Shell production: Centrum für Prototypenbau, Erkelenz
• Hardware production: EFG Elektronik, Würselen
• Route Charlemagne Concept: Maurer United Architects, Maastricht

Technology

Aixplorer is the first tour guide system to combine three types of location awareness: from general outdoor tracking like a GPS, to room-accurate indoor tracking using wireless technology, e.g., on the ground floor of the City Hall, to continuous high-precision location tracking in the upstairs coronation hall audio virtual reality experience. You move between these three tracking mechanisms in a seamless experience, without noticing the switchovers.

As a tourist, you rent your Aixplorer from the Aachen City Hall. The device tracks its location and provides you with interesting information about your current location using audio tracks, images, or video clips. But Aixplorer is more than your typical audio guide: It tells you about Aachen's "secrets", stories and insider information a good friend would share with you as he or she guides you through Aachen.

The first version of Aixplorer that launches in Summer 2009 focuses on the Aachen City Hall ("Rathaus" in German). When you enter the City Hall, the system tracks which room you are currently in. For each room, Aixplorer displays a set of audio/video narratives that provide information about the room and its interior. Some tracks are feature clips with interesting stories and anecdotes from the hall's long history.

Upcoming versions of Aixplorer will expand the narrative tour to additional locations in the inner city, providing interesting historical information and anecdotes about, for example, the Aachen cathedral (Aachener Dom) or the Couven museum. This way, Aixplorer connects the various stations of the Route Charlemagne for you as a visitor into a coherent experience.

In a few years, Aixplorer will be able to lead you through the entire inner city of Aachen in an intelligent way, providing information on current events, optimizing your route to avoid wait times at locations, helping you to find your travel companions, and adding other innovative features coming out of research conducted at RWTH Aachen University.

---