NEW YORK, NY.- The American Museum of Natural History launched Explorer, an updated app that lets visitors personalize their onsite experience using cutting-edge location-aware technology. The app, developed with support from Bloomberg Philanthropies, enables visitors to think like an explorer by providing unique journeys through the Museum’s 45 permanent exhibition halls. With new features and content tailored to the multi-dimensional ways that people engage with information today, the app acts like a virtual curator, teaching visitors about the surprising facts and stories that underlie the wonder of the Museum.

“For nearly 150 years, the American Museum of Natural History has presented science, nature, and culture in ever-evolving ways that reflect how people discover, access, and interact with information,” said Museum President Ellen V. Futter. “As we continue to forge a new role for museums in the 21st century, technology allows us to more fully create an even more seamless and meaningful experience for our visitors, both onsite and online. In doing so, Explorer fuels the spirit of discovery at the heart of all exploration in ways that are thoroughly in step with our times.”

A wealth of new content, including animations, behind-the-scenes videos from collections and exhibition preparation, archival photos, audio, and quizzes have been added to engage visitors of all ages. At the blue whale, for example, a visitor can use Explorer to find out a real cetacean’s weight in subway cars, learn where to locate its belly button, or even listen to its hypnotic song.

Other new features in Explorer include:

• The Avatour augmented reality adventure, which lets users “Be the Bear” in the Bernard Family Hall of North American Mammals by unlocking the animal’s ursine “superpowers.” Visitors can also be a “Dino Detective” as they tour the Museum’s world-famous fossil halls

• Tree of Life, a quiz-based game that connects visitors to the institution’s scientific mission by helping them discover how all life, from house cats to Homo sapiens, is related as they build their own mammalian tree of life

• In-app ticket purchasing that lets visitors skip the ticket lines and receive reminders when a movie, Space Show, or ticketed exhibition is about to start

• Refined turn-by-turn navigation that helps visitors find the shortest route to exhibits, cafés, shops, or restrooms

“The new Explorer app offers a unique opportunity for visitors to engage with the extraordinary resources of one of the world’s great museums,” said Patricia E. Harris, CEO of Bloomberg Philanthropies. “We are proud to support this innovative mix of interpretation, information and wayfinding, which will expand access and enjoyment for audiences of all ages.”

“This new release is part of an institution-wide effort to redefine the Museum experience for the digital age,” said Catherine Devine, chief digital officer at the Museum. “It would not be possible without a range of improvements made to our digital infrastructure in recent years, including a network of more than 800 Bluetooth beacons.”

Explorer is available on Apple and Android devices and can be downloaded free of charge from the Apple App Store or Google Play.