The River Outpost
is the watershed hub, a place for visitors to connect and learn about the
Milwaukee River Watershed. The Riveredge Nature Center was looking for an
interactive that would not only provide important information about sturgeons
and the watershed, but also provide a way for entire school groups to enter
their research data on water quality. The challenge? This interactive needed to
be mobile, with the ability to move from the River Outpost to other locations
at Riveredge during the winter months. Balance Studios dove in
and accepted this challenge.
The Watershed
Interactive is a four-group multi-gestural table allowing visitors to explore together.
Groups can select from entering their data in the Data Collection section or
reviewing the research collected at the Streamside Rearing Facility. They can
watch the incredible animation of the sturgeon lifecycle or view educational
videos from the nature center team.
Riveredge Nature
Center brings in large school groups and even with the increased ability to upload
data, they knew it would be a challenge to get every student’s data recorded.
The solution? An accompanying iPad application, giving large school groups the
ability to enter their research data quickly and compare with their classmates’
data. Riveredge is able to load the app onto as many iPads as they’d like.
In addition, the nature
center team can set up the table for success with their custom content management system (CMS). From setting up custom groups for their little field researchers
to exporting the collected data for their records, the amount of information
flowing through this interactive and CMS is incredible. On top of that, the
team can add additional videos to continually expand the application.