Soon, tourists can use mobile app to navigate in Jaisalmer

Tourists visiting Jaisalmer will now be able to use mobile-based smart beacon App to move around the city and take a tour of the historic places.

The Jaisalmer urban improvement trust (UIT) is installing beacon sensors at 15 popular tourist locations that will enable tourists to visualize the map on the app, chose the route of their liking and move around with ease without depending on touts.

“The sensors will become operational in seven days,” UIT nodal officer Ashok Kumar Asija told Hindustan Times.

At present, tourists have to depend on auto-rickshaw drivers and guides to move around the city and historic places. While there are a limited number of guides authorized by the state tourism department, there are a large number of touts who have cheated the tourists in the past.

“With the smart beacon technology, tourists will have a fully interactive app that can guide them and also provide them with news and information regarding mobility,” Asija said.

The app will allow tourists’ smart phone to communicate through its Bluetooth device with beacons--small wireless sensors positioned at strategic points. In this way tourists can visit historic centers by visualizing the map on the app and chose the route to their liking.

While approaching monuments and other tourist spots through notifications that appear on their portable device, visitors can also read and listen to information regarding the historic significance of the place just as they would do with a museum audio guide.

With the use of the beacon technology it is also possible to deliver information in different languages, therefore also ensuring foreign visitors a perfect use of information and a pleasant visit of the city.

The locations where beacon are being installed include Sonar Kila, Deewan Salim Singh Ki Haweli, Sam sand dunes, Tanot Mata temple, Gadisar lake, Patwa Haveli, Fossils Park, Ramdevra temple, Mandir Palace and Kuldhara village.