Visitors to Prince George and residents interested in staying plugged in to the 2015 Canada Winter Games are one step closer to having the experience at their fingertips.
The Games' host society had a grant application to Northern Development Initiatives Trust (NDIT) endorsed by council last week for a grant to develop a smartphone and tablet application for the event.
NDIT is being petitioned for more than $14,000 from their marketing initiatives fund for the app - about 28.5 per cent of the project's $50,000 budget.
The ask is inspired by a similar system created for the Summer Games in Sherbrooke last August.
"We think it will be great. The Sherbrooke 2013 summer games had an app that had a huge adoption rate," said host society communications manager Alyson Gourley-Cramer.
The app was downloaded 14,400 times and used an average of 4,500 times per day.
It provides two purposes, said Gourley-Cramer.
"One is to give people as much direct information about the Games as possible within an app. All of the real-time results, medal counts, athlete profiles, schedule of events, whether those are sport or cultural and, of course, maps are linked to those as well," she said. Users can also find local transportation and accommodation options, local businesses and arts and cultural venues.
A letter of support from the Prince George Chamber of Commerce for the application said the project "helps us all rest assured that thousands of visitors coming to our city in 2015 will have excellent guidance, tailored to meet their needs."
Quebec City company SKeX developed the Sherbrooke app, but Gourley-Cramer said it hasn't been confirmed who will design the Prince George product. And unlike the Sherbrooke app, the 2015 version will be available on both Apple and Android operating systems, she said.
App development will start by April 1.
