Turku offers a mobile experience of Tall Ships’ Race
Olli Sulin The Polish school ship Dar Mlodziezy floated into Turku already on Tuesday.Tall Ships' Race, a sailing competition held annually in European waters, takes place in Turku's Aurajoki River this weekend. The special feature of this year's event is a mobile phone service, where the visitors will be able to receive a map of the area and additional information on the ships directly to their mobile phones. The service works with smart phones with camera function.
- We are testing how mobile and wireless networks work in accordance with large public events. We offer also network hotspots, where trials of the service are provided for free, says the Project Manager Jarmo Röksä, who is in charge of the Virtual Capital of Culture - initiative. Turku, alongside with the Estonian capital city Tallinn, will carry the title of European Capital of Culture in 2011.
The pilot service combines in a new way the Mapsi- map service of the Tampere-based Gemilo Oy and the mobile code service which has been developed by the Vaasa-based UpCode Ltd. The mobile code service is already in use in over 50 countries.
Visitors at the Tall Ships´ Race will be able to experience Virtual Capital of Culture applications at each big vessel participating in the event. The UpCode program sends additional information and videos about the vessels, interviews of the crew and photographs of the interior of the ships to the visitors. Mapsi map service shows the visitors the area of the event and a map of Turku, with extra information on other interesting sights in the city.
