pportunities that these could offer particularly in terms of visitors' orientation and way finding. The presence of a touch screen, in fact, supports the use of interactive maps, which, alone or in combination with location aware technologies can help visitors understand where they are and decide where to go. More than 10 years have now passed since the implementation of the first handheld guide and, unfortunately, many museums are still struggling to develop and implement effective way finding solutions on mobile platforms. Location aware technologies have proven to be expensive and problematic to install and maintain, while interactive maps, particularly of complex sites can be challenging for people to use and interpret on small screens. Building on the experience of other institutions such as Tate, the Met and the Louvre, the British Museum has recently launched a multimedia guide in 11 languages that supports way finding and orientation without relying on location aware technology. In this paper, we will present in details the various way finding solutions that were developed for the guide, as well as the results of research and evaluations that were carried out on these applications during and after the launch. Through our experience, we hope to provide a reference for other medium and large size museums, which are grappling with similar issues. A presentation from Museums and the Web 2011 (MW2011).

2. Mobile devices for orientation and
way finding:
The British Museum multimedia
guide
Silvia Filippini Fantoni, Matthew Cock
The British Museum

4. Way finding at the BM
A complex layout
No clear geographical order
No clear chronological order
High density of object display

6. Interactive map
Map of 3 floors
Zooming and scrolling
Key in room number into
keypad

8. Guided tours
Use of audio-visual directions
Images of landmarks
Path highlighted on the map
Resist the temptation of
telling people too much about
the surroundings
Key objects that are less likely
to move
Keep people on clear path

10. The Navigator
Introduction to the museum
layout
Location of popular works,
facilities and galleries (Roman,
Greek, Chinese, etc.)
Use of known landmarks, floor
level, room number, cardinal
directions
Reference to the interactive
map and the keypad
functionality

12. The challenges
Costs
Rotating exhibits
Multiple distributions points
Difficulty of updating content

14. The guide in numbers
10 languages
230 objects
7 guided tours
1 version for children
1 version in British Sign
Language
170,000 users since December
2009