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 BaladoDécouverte 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 easy access to the experiences offered both online and offline, the creators of unique guides can offer visitors a free mobile application that only recommends filtered content, free of unwanted advertising, without any account to be created when using it and without any payment to be made to access the platform’s most popular utilities.
BaladoDiscovery is a start-up. 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 and the prize from the International Council on Social Welfcare. More concretely, the project began to take shape a little later, in Senegal, in the context of a documentary series he was making for CIDA. Serendipity and a favorable context then made this project possible, causing key collaborators to take an interest in the technological aspect of BaladoDiscovery, including Marc Desfossés, one of the programmer-analysts from the beginning.
BaladoDiscovery was the first network bringing together multiple experiences of self-guided historical tours on a mobile application in 2011. It is also a platform where hundreds of regional partners converge today, who participate in the creation of their own content and make it promotion. 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 currently offers the largest network of its kind in Canada.
BaladoDiscovery is registered with the Canadian Intellectual Property Office and is self-financing. Thanks to the many regional organizations who participate in the creation of historical content. The initiators of the project would also like to thank Canadian Heritage for having believed in this concept and for supporting it financially from the beginning.
App Compatibility
The BaladoDiscovery application is offered free of charge to Android and iOS (Apple) mobile users.
Devices providing full circuit access
iPhone : version 5 et +
iPad : version 2 et +
iPod : version 4 et +
Android phones: the vast majority of models.
Android tablets: the vast majority of models.
GPS and offline access (without internet) in the field
All of the above devices allow access to circuits without an internet connection in the field (with the Preload option of the application). iPods don’t show your location relative to places on your device, however, as it doesn’t have GPS. All the other devices show your position on the interactive map relative to routes and points of interest.
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
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 OpenStreetMap, CC-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