UT Gardens Event Feature Interactive Mobile Map

BACKGROUND

The UT Gardens, Knoxville is one of three sites in the State Botanical Gardens of Tennessee. The grounds showcase the latest research and education in horticulture, making it the perfect location to host the 2023 National Children & Youth Garden Symposium. The annual American Horticultural Society event sought to provide educational and engaging experiences for youth educators in horticulture. This led UT Gardens to explore mobile technology for an enhanced visitor experience.

CHALLENGE

Organizing the garden visit required a combination of education, networking, and experiential learning initiatives. UT Gardens aimed to ensure that attendees could explore the grounds, hit points of interest, and follow a designated route that aligned with the symposium’s themes.

SOLUTION

To address these challenges UT Gardens partnered with Engage by Cell, a leading provider of mobile engagement solutions, to leverage GPS Mapper technology. This innovative tool offered an efficient solution to guide symposium attendees through the garden and highlight key takeaways.

IMPLEMENTATION

Engage by Cell’s GPS Mapper is a mobile web app that takes an organization’s map and pairs it with Google’s “blue dot” technology to create a custom experience. Here are a few features and benefits:

Easy Access

The map was created on Engage by Cell’s no-downloads mobile web platform. The map is accessed via QR code or link. In this instance, the garden had signage at the entrance and throughout the grounds encouraging attendees to use the tool.

Highlighted Event Route

The map provided two interfaces: the full garden, and the highlighted symposium route. Users could toggle between a general garden view, or select the symposium path to see points of interest that had an on-site docent. These specified points aligned with the event’s educational objectives,  ensuring attendees didn’t miss any major stops.

Points of Interest

The map features clickable markers indicating key locations like specific plant collections, demonstration areas, and educational stations. Attendees could tap on these markers to access images and a description for insights on each stop. The tool can also include selfie upload stations, scavenger hunts, educational quizzes, and more.

Real-time Navigation

Whitney Hale, Education Coordinator at UT Gardens, Knoxville shares, “We were thrilled that the NCYGS attendees were able to utilize the interactive map to maintain their sense of place while visiting our Gardens.”

With the help of GPS technology, attendees could track their real-time location with the universal blinking blue dot. This feature eliminated confusion and made it easy for attendees to stay on track with the designated route.

RESULTS

Hale explains, “The map combined our desire to provide our guests with effective wayfinding, education, and a more casual experience for the afternoon reception in our Gardens.”

The integration of Engage by Cell’s GPS Mapper technology enhanced the attendees’ experience in these key areas:

Time Management

Attendees could easily engage with the garden’s offerings and spend more time exploring highlighted points on the map.

Effortless Navigation

The highlighted route and real-time location feature ensured that attendees could move through the garden without getting lost or missing stops. This reduces wayfinding questions to staff, focusing interactions on the garden itself.

Educational Value

The interactive points of interest provided valuable insights into youth initiatives, horticultural practices, and sustainable gardening techniques — aligning perfectly with the symposium’s goals.

Sustainability

“It provided us (UT Gardens, Knoxville) a sustainable alternative to providing hard copies of our map with the designated route for that particular event, “ said Hale.

Data Analytics

Reports show that over 50% of attendees chose to utilize the interactive map! The data also indicated the success of the highlighted route, showing the most-visited stops were the markers highlighted on the symposium map.

CONCLUSION

The collaboration between UT Gardens and Engage by Cell’s GPS Mapper technology during the 2023 National Children & Youth Garden Symposium successfully demonstrated how technology can elevate the visitor experience, and serve event initiatives. Due to the tool’s success, UT Gardens will continue to utilize the interactive map for everyday visitors and future events!

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