WHITEFISH – John Frandsen believes every place has a story and he wants to help tell it through technology.
Frandsen, 40, is one of the owners and founders of Old Town Creative, a website and software development company based in Whitefish that specializes in showcasing travel destinations with interactive online mapping.
Using a straightforward content management system they created called “GeoConsensus,” Frandsen and his staff have become innovators for the modern traveler. Companies like National Geographic and Microsoft Bing are now using Old Town’s software as technology continues to change how people interact with geography.
An example of this evolution can be seen in Whitefish, where travelers no longer need a fold-out map to find their way around.
A virtual travel application for Android smart phones is the latest development from Old Town Creative.
Funded by the Whitefish Convention and Visitor Bureau (WCVB), the free application is an interactive and evolving guidebook for places to eat, stay and visit in town and in the surrounding area. The content is updated and maintained in real time by member businesses of the WCVB with more than 130 current participants.
With an Android smart phone, visitors can find special offers, photos, directions and event details in the palm of their hand.
“I think about it like we’re putting a local in your pocket,” Frandsen said.
The WCVB officially launched the application on Aug. 26. A version of the app is still being developed for the Apple iPhone and is scheduled to be released this winter.
“More and more, tourists desire location-aware information about the destination they are visiting and want information provided by local experts to be available on their smart phones,” said Jan Metzmaker, director of the WCVB. “Whitefish is excited to introduce this new free service for our guests to make it easier for them to make choices about their vacation in real time.”
According to a recent study released by Nielsen, 40 percent of mobile phone customers have smart phones, and that percentage continues to grow steadily. Android’s operating system is the most popular, with 40 percent of the market, and the iPhone is next with 28 percent.
Over the next decade, Frandsen sees the “mobile application revolution” becoming more geographically based, meaning each person holding a smart phone will find content relevant to where they stand location-wise.
“Place is becoming more important to information,” said Frandsen, who previously worked in tourism marketing for years and was director of marketing and sales at then-Big Mountain Resort.
“A significant movement of people are interacting with content via mobile devices, and because mobile phones are so place-based and place-oriented, managing content that is similarly based is becoming more important for that. We feel like we’re positioned well for that.”
National Geographic agreed, which is why they wanted to partner with Old Town Creative and implement the GeoConsensus system.
“We have been producing these print map guides for awhile, and we started developing more online. We were looking for solutions for building and managing that online content,” Frank Biasi, the director of digital development at National Geographic, said.
“We found the GeoConsensus system provided a nice solution for managing and publishing that online (mapping) content. The content includes descriptions, pictures, videos, contact info. That’s the kind of content that is needed to really describe places and destinations for visitors.”
The idea behind GeoConsensus dates back to 1999. Working for another company, Frandsen was tasked with creating an online database of campgrounds around the country. Because visiting every single site was impossible, Frandsen reached out to locals who were, what he called, “field experts” for each location. These field experts logged on to a system Frandsen and his team developed and compiled their consensus information from the source.
A decade later, that became the foundation for GeoConsensus.
“The sites (using GeoConsensus) really do provide a lot of content and have quite a bit of functionality but they’re not overwhelming to users,” said Biasi, who points to National Geographic’s geotourism program site as an example. “It’s nice that they provide different ways of navigating and discovering content.”
Almost four years old, Old Town Creative now has four full-time staff members and a growing list of eager business partners. As technology continues to evolve and companies continue trying to keep up, those in Whitefish can know they’re already on the map.
“We feel like over the last few years we’ve developed a lot of technology and put quite a bit of foundation under us, so the next three years we can grow a little and reach out a little more,” Frandsen said.