Broadcaster of Experiences since 2011

The BaladoDiscovery platform was launched by the non-profit organization L’Aire de jeu in 2011, with financial support from the Canada Interactive Fund (Government of Canada). This unifying project, which contributes to reducing the ecological footprint, was intended to be unprecedented in several respects as soon as it arrived on the market.  

The technological component of BaladoDiscovery was developed for the most part with the collaboration of students (and ex-students) in computer science from the University of Sherbrooke (in Quebec) from 2011. The platform continued to be reviewed and improved in part by them over time.

These talents brought together have been…

  • Precursors of the first network of guided tours on mobile application bringing together the offers of multiple organizations on the same platform (2011).
  • Developers of the first interface allowing multiple organizations to manage their guided tours 100% independently (2011).
  • Developers of the first app offering an offline option to pre-load many guides from different agencies into one app (2011).

In addition to the visibility and ease of access to the experiences, the creators of unique guides can offer visitors to use a free platform that only recommends filtered informative content, free of unwanted advertising, which works everywhere with its application (even without an Internet network during the visit experience), without any account to create when using it and without any payment to make to access the most popular utilities.

BaladoDiscovery is a start-up resulting from exceptional teamwork. The founder of the network is Gérald Gilbert, a former filmmaker participating in the program La Course Destination-Monde on CBC french network. He emphasizes having felt the beginnings of the original idea following this adventure where he was awarded the UNESCO prize as well as the prize from the International Development Research Center. A few years later, following a series of professional experiences, not without certain pitfalls at times, the original concept resurfaced. Good timing, the addition of key collaborators and a favorable context made the development of the technological component possible. 

Among the creators of the first hour, we find Marc Desfossés, one of the main programmer-analysts of the technological innovation component. At the same time, the content of the platform has continuously improved over time, while hundreds of partners use its management interface. BaladoDiscovery exists thanks to this convergence of collaborations. All added content happens to be supervised and filtered: bad content and unwanted ads are removed, a feature sought and particularly appreciated these days.

The network is funded by the hundreds of organizations and cities that are part of it. In return, they obtain not only an original discovery tool to offer their visitors, but also the visibility of the largest network of guided tours of its kind in America.

The platform aims to offer experiences from the Canadian market as well as the French-speaking market across America, considering that this approach facilitates a distinct, concentrated promotion, which is attractive and appreciated by visitors. It has grown by expanding its target market by steps, without seeking to grow in an anarchic way, while avoiding presenting sassy content.

BaladoDiscovery is, nowadays, a platform bringing together hundreds of regional collaborators and partners concerned about the quality of the offer, who participate in the creation of their local content and promote it. The platform distributes this content and makes it accessible to visitors with mobile phones, whether online and/or offline (without Internet once in the field), with or without the application.

BaladoDiscovery is registered with the Canadian Intellectual Property Office and is self-financing. The initiators of the project would also like to thank the many regional organizations and collaborators who participate in the creation of historical content as well as Canadian Heritage, which believed in this concept and supported it financially from the very beginning.

App Compatibility

The BaladoDiscovery application is offered free of charge to Android and iOS (Apple) mobile users.

Devices offering full access to circuits

iPhone: XR version and later

iPad: version 7 and later

Android devices: Any type of phone or tablet less than 5 years old

Offline access (without internet) in the field

All of the above devices allow access to the experiences offered without an internet connection in the field (with the Preload option in the application). Including interactive map, route suggestion, option allowing you to see your position on the map to simplify your orientation in real time, points of interest and informative content.

Accessibility

Access to Web visit experiences

  • You can access guided tours directly on the web from your mobile. Internet access is required.
  • You can share and suggest to those around you to discover points of interest from the guided tours.
  • You can also access the content of the platform on your computer (exception of points of interest from the Museum package).

Access to visit experiences with the app (recommended)

  • It is recommended that you pre-load the guided tours that interest you using the application before going to the site (especially if access to Internet service is limited in the region where a tour is located… or if you do not do not have a 3G Internet package allowing you to stay connected at all times at a reasonable cost). Otherwise, you can consult the points of interest of the circuits and themes in real time without problem with the application.
  • To preload a theme: an Internet connection is required for consultation and/or preloading. Locate the theme that interests you and click on “Preload” (at the top).
  • You will find the preloaded theme in the “Favorites” section.

To the creators of circuits and themes

  • To build a guided tour in five steps and integrate content (text, photos, audio, video, 360-degree virtual tours), the “Creation” section of the BaladoDiscovery website is designed for this purpose.

Nowadays

The BaladoDécouverte (BaladoDiscovery) trademark is owned by 9029-1949 Québec inc, a company belonging to the founder and creator of the network of the same name.  

Originally, the technological component was partly funded by the organization L’Aire de jeu, a Canadian non-profit organization, located in Quebec, whose mission is to create and distribute cinematographic, theatrical and multimedia works; to allow the community to be the main beneficiary; to create and distribute regional and national productions for cultural entertainment purposes involving local artisans; to make these productions accessible to a wide audience and to establish links with other stakeholders in the artistic and media world in order to combine disciplines and genres.  

It is with this in mind that L’Aire de jeu has produced the BaladoDiscovery application, accessible to the main users of smart phones (iPhone, iPad as well as Android tablets and phones).  

The production company Cinax inc. provides development and maintenance services for the application and provides service to customers for the creation module, which makes it possible to create and offer tours to visitors.

Credits

Founder

Gerald Gilbert

Original concept

Gerald Gilbert
Mathieu Blanchette

Supervisors

Gerald Gilbert, coordinator
Mathieu Blanchette, lead developper

Multimedia services provider

Cinax

Programmers-developers

Adrian Plopeanu (Web data infrastructure)
Mathieu Blanchette (Website & Android application)
Marc Desfossés (iOS application)

Programmers

Mickael Paradis
Adrian Plopeanu
Yassine Parakh Ousman
Mathieu Blanchette
Pang Yan Bin
Julien Brassard
Michael Brunelle
Ghazi Denden
Vijay Gajjar
Jean-Philippe Bernard
Alexandre Vincent
Manu Tiwari

Multimedia designers

Mathieu Blanchette
Mathieu Groulx
Charles Nadeau
Riadh Touj
Derrick Kennedy
Jean-Philippe Bernard

Researchers – Original content (2009-2013)

Anne-Josee Bedard
Joshua Lessard
Gerald Gilbert
Matthieu Paradis
Sophie Duquette
Christopher Vallieres
Sylvie L.Bergeron
Kristina Bernard
Sebastien Charette
Marie-Eve Jean
Cynthia Blais-Despaty

Directors – Original content (2010-2013)

Gerald Gilbert
Joshua Lessard
Anne-Josée Bédard

Editors – Original content (2010-2013)

Gerald Gilbert
Joshua Lessard

Translators

Anne-Josée Bédard
Cynthia Blais Despaty
Maximiliano Mendez

Jural advisor

Sébastien Guimier

Production accountants

Huguette Théberge
Sylvie L. Bergeron
Diane Zakaib

Project Coordinator

Gerald Gilbert

An original production of

L’Aire de jeu inc.

Interactive Maps

Map data contributed by OpenStreetMapCC-BY-SA.

Legal notice

By using BaladoDiscovery, browsing its site and using its applications, you accept everything that is written in the legal notice of the BaladoDiscovery site. You are deemed to have read and understood the summary presentation, the definitions, the conditions of use of BaladoDiscovery, the Privacy and liability section as well as the Applicable law section, available on BaladoDiscovery.com/legal