Say goodbye to your guidebook

The app gives a description of historical sites all around Europe, including the Palais Princier. © MonumentTracker

A recently released smartphone application, ‘Monument Tracker’, is giving visitors a more in-depth experience by acting as a virtual tourist guidebook. It is the first time that a smartphone application continuously sends signals to determine geographic location, even when on standby.

‘Monument Tracker’ can be downloaded on iPhones and Androids, and has encoded historical buildings in 21 cities in Europe including, Nice, Cannes, Monaco, and Aix-en-Provence. When activated, the gadget uses a GPS system identifying the sites nearest to you, providing a photograph of each building along with a description.

In Nice, for example, the application traces the origins of 120 buildings and in Monaco around 87 sites are identified, explaining the Grimaldi family’s historical influence on the architecture of the Principality. It would seem that from now on, history is sitting quite literally in the palm of your hand.

Nathalie Miraval