Have you wondered what the other side of that gold medal in the Arctic Museum looks like? Or wanted to hear what Peary had to say about why he went to the Arctic? How about seeing an x-ray of a 100-year old tape measure excavated from an Inughuit house in northwestern Greenland? Now you can do all these things and more, with an iPhone and the new Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum App.

The app was created by Inho Hwang ’16, as part of Bowdoin College’s inaugural Mobile App Development Program in the summer of 2014. Hwang worked closely with developer Andrew Currier in IT, and curator Genevieve LeMoine at the museum, to create an app that gives visitors access to additional information about objects on display at the museum.

The app uses iBeacons to track an iPhone’s location in the museum and present visitors with a list of nearby objects to explore. Standard search functions also make it possible for users to browse the objects on- or off -site. Visitors who have downloaded the app don’t need to worry about the changing exhibits – the app updates the content automatically each time the phone return to the museum, ensuring that visitors see items from the current exhibits.

Because the content can be so easily updated, the app is always a work in progress. “That is the beauty of this app” according to curator Genevieve LeMoine. “We can add new supplemental information, photos, sounds and eventually even video.”

Come by the Arctic museum and give the app a try!