History Associates Collaborates with Civil War Trust to Create Self-Guided Tour of Gettysburg for iPhone

    ROCKVILLE, MD, March 09, 2011 /24-7PressRelease/ -- History Associates, the leading historical research firm in the United States, along with the Civil War Trust, the largest nonprofit battlefield preservation organization, is pleased to announce the availability of the first of a series of "Battle Apps"--a mobile battlefield tour that takes advantage of the GPS technology and Apple's iPhone platform. This Battle App provides a self-guided tour of battle action that occurred at Devil's Den and Little Round Top.

The Battle App allows visitors to track their exact location on the battlefield as they enjoy a rich media experience that guides them through the historic site. Visitors can learn about orders of battle, study troop movements, explore biographies of key figures, see historical photos, watch video clips of historical experts, and hear modern narrations of historical accounts written by witnesses. All content is contained within the downloaded app and can be reviewed without any restrictions due to cell service.

"This app combines an impressive amount of historical detail with powerful technology to enable even the casual visitor to come away with a rich understanding of what took place here," said Civil War Trust president James Lighthizer. "It's like having a personal historian along with you as you explore the Gettysburg Battlefield."

Due to the rich historical sources associated with the Gettysburg battlefield, the Civil War Trust decided to focus on the popular Devil's Den and Little Round Top sites for the launch of its Battle App tours. To create the content for the app, they first reviewed the events of the battle in these areas and identified ten significant tour stops. These spots were set up in the app as "Virtual Signs" layered with supporting information that can be explored as the user chooses. In addition to these Virtual Signs, historians identified forty-eight additional points of interest throughout the site.

Historians at History Associates then set out to research and build a multimedia narrative to illustrate each tour stop and point of interest. Content in the resulting app includes an overview screen that describes the events that took place, historical images of the battle, an audio narrative of first-hand accounts, and a video tour guide that provides additional description and detail. And visitors can explore a "learn more" section that includes little-known facts and additional imagery. The app also contains an additional resources section that includes biographies, battle maps, orders of battle, and other facts.

A second project featuring the 1862 Battle of Fredericksburg is already in production. The Civil War Trust is planning future Battle Apps for popular battlefields such as Antietam, Chancellorsville, Chickamauga, Manassas, Shiloh, and the Wilderness.

Technology partner AccuTerra provided the platform for the Battle Apps, which can be used on GPS-enabled iPhones. The application is currently available for iPhone only, but plans are in place to make the Battle Apps available on other GPS-enabled platforms, like Blackberry and Android phones.

For more information about the content, use, and availability of GPS-enabled CWT Battle Apps, please visit www.civilwar.org/battleapp.

About the Civil War Trust
With 55,000 members, the Civil War Trust is the largest nonprofit battlefield preservation organization in the United States. Its goals are to preserve our nation's endangered Civil War sites and to promote appreciation of these hallowed grounds through education and heritage tourism. The Trust's website is located at www.civilwar.org.

About History Associates
For thirty years the historians and archivists at History Associates have demonstrated that history is valuable in the market as well as the marketplace of ideas. We provide professional historical research, histories, exhibit content, interpretive planning, and archives and records management to clients throughout the United States and around the world. History Associates serves corporate, government, legal, and nonprofit clients from its headquarters in Rockville, Maryland, with an office in Brea, California. History Associates strives to be The Best Company in History . For more information, call (301) 279-9697 or visit www.historyassociates.com.

# # #