Remember that time you spent most of an afternoon trying to find the Hope Diamond inside the National Museum of Natural History?
Starting Tuesday, that’s a thing of the past.
The Smithsonian Institution teamed up with Google to map the inside of 17 museums and the National Zoo, complete with step-by-step walking directions.
“They’re pretty darn detailed,” Smithsonian spokesman Brian Ireley said of the maps that follow the building plans down to the centimeter. “We have all of our exhibits labeled and some of our stand-alone objects are being labeled as we speak. There will be shapes and things so you can get a more detailed idea of where you are, even within a room.”
The floor plans will be built into a smartphone application, which works through Google Maps only for Androids. When visitors get close to the building, Ireley said options to look inside and scroll through floors will appear on screen.
The app will mark visitors’ location as they walk through exhibits and will automatically detect when they change floors.
“So say you see an IMAX Theatre [label on the map]. You can touch that little label. You can find out more information or get directions to it. It will say, ‘Turn right in 75 feet, go down the elevator to the second floor, walk straight for 20 feet and you’ll see it.'”
The maps will cover the National Air and Space Museum, National Museum of American History, National Museum of Natural History, among others.
“[People are] going to be able to see what’s behind that corridor, or what’s on the second floor without having to find an information sign,” Ireley said, “without having to hunt down someone and ask and, even more so, walk there themselves. This is a good time saver and an information tool.”
