Bellefonte Chamber looks toward mobile app to help visitors
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EMMA GOSALVEZ/THE EXPRESS
The Bellefonte Train Station at 320 W. High St. is the headquarters for the Bellefonte Intervalley Area Chamber of Commerce. Visitors frequently stop by for information on the town and to get a walking tour map to guide them through Bellefonte's many historical sites.
By EMMA GOSALVEZ
egosalvez@lockhaven.com
BELLEFONTE -- The experience of taking a walking tour through historic Bellefonte may get a 21st-century facelift.
The Bellefonte Intervalley Area Chamber of Commerce (BIACC) is hoping to get funds for a new mobile application that will help visitors tour and learn about the history of Bellefonte directly from their smartphones.
BIACC Executive Director Gary Hoover said there have been talks about having a mobile app for a while. An app would serve as a supplement to the current walking tour map, which is available online and at the Bellefonte Train Station and highlights 46 historical stops and 10 historical state markers. The GPS-enabled app would also supplement other projects that are in the works in Bellefonte, including the installation of historical street tablets.
When visitors stop into the train station, some have commented on the need for a digital presence.
"There are some people who rely on their smartphones or their tablets or even their laptops to look things up, and there are other folks who come into the train station and say, 'You know what, I'm on vacation, I don't want to do stuff like that,'" Hoover said.
According to Hoover, a mobile app may be down the road, but funding is needed first. He estimates development of an app may cost about $15,000. The plan is to create a coalition to help raise dollars, and BIACC is currently seeking a significant amount of funding through the Centre County Board of Commissioners over the next few months.
With a small deficit projected in the county's 2018 budget, the mobile app may not see funding in the new year, but it is definitely a project Commissioner Mark Higgins said he is excited about and will work to help acquire funding for.
"I really like history, walking tours are always fun, and I love Bellefonte, and this combines all of those together," Higgins said. "I do think it's going to bring more people into downtown Bellefonte and I think it will help Bellefonte residents better appreciate some of the history of their own community."
Higgins said the county might try to help with funding through the Central Pennsylvania Convention and Visitors Bureau. There is also a slight chance of gaining state grant money for the project, but those grants are highly competitive, he said.
Hoover said he would like to have an app in place within a year of gathering all the resources needed. Once funds are acquired, a request for proposals will go out for an application developer and bids will be reviewed before choosing the best candidate.
The app will be created through a partnership of various local organizations and entities beyond BIACC, such as the county, borough, Historic Bellefonte Inc., and the Bellefonte Historical and Cultural Association.
"I talked to a couple of the Chamber members who built things like that and got some advice as to what it might look like," Hoover said.
After the app has been developed, it may expand to include information on individual local businesses that are members of BIACC, similar to the way Google Maps functions. Hoover said the goal is to have the app include a lot more information than the current walking tour provides. There would be additional information about each site, allowing local historians to provide more information, along with the possibility of having more than one photo per site and references for further reading.
"Then maybe we could have a module, where if you want to go around to local state parks or to Centre County historical sites like Curtin Village, Centre Furnace Mansion, Columbus Chapel and Boal Mansion, and things like that," Hoover added.
For now, the plans are to have the app highlight the historical downtown area of Bellefonte and possibly the historical residential area, Hoover explained.
"It will make it a lot easier and more informative for people to come into Bellefonte, and by extension, all of Centre County," he said. "So they will come here and enjoy themselves more, stay longer and experience the charm and everything that our local community has to offer."