A series of electronic signposts have been set up around Poole to support a scheme designed to help people learn about the town’s history.
The Poole Trail scheme allows people to access information about the town via their mobile phone when they are near one of the signposts. The scheme was developed by City In-Sights in collaboration with Poole Museum. 
Each of the signposts tells a different story, and also allows people to access the scheme’s website. The information featured includes pictures, stories and audio files.
They developed a way of linking street signage, information panels, simplified street map, mobile-friendly website and behind-the-scenes database of archive material. The main task of ‘Content Matrix’ is to identify every piece of information appearing on the mobile website and making sure that visitors can always make sense of the information they encounter.
Mike Gardom, City-Insights Director, commented: “How much better a visitor experience could be when you were able to get access to multimedia about a particular place while actually standing on that street.”
Poole Museum helped with historical coverage. The range of stories includes 1930s films about old Poole fishing, dock and boat-building industries to recordings of residents over years recalling their personal memories.
Cllr Judy Butt, Cabinet Portfolio Holder for Public Engagement and Participation, said: “The Trail is unique available 24 hours a day a fabulous interactive ‘real resource’ and totally new to Poole.”
Mike Gardom checked the online website himself after the opening last Tuesday. “The last post I uncovered was at Baiter, and I listened to the memories of a woman whose mother had been a nurse at the fever hospital that once stood there.”
He added: “I would say that with Poole Museum we have managed to create something really special for the town.”
