EUGENE, Ore. -- (Jan. 31, 2012) – Owners of Android devices can now join the thousands of iPhone users who have downloaded UOregon, the University of Oregon’s official mobile application.
Now available in the Android Market, the Android version of UOregon includes the same functionality as the award-winning iOS application.
Since its release for iPhone in the summer of 2010, UOregon has been downloaded more than 70,000 times (including updates) and maintains a four-star rating in Apple’s App Store.
“We're optimistic Android users will use our app at the same rate as the iPhone user community,” said Ken Kato, associate director of the Geography Department's InfoGraphics Lab who produced the apps in collaboration with UO Web Communications.
UOregon guides users around campus on five tours, maps the precise locations of books in the state’s largest library and serves up the latest university news and features. In addition, the app maps to any room on campus.
The tours, added last fall to UOregon, showcase the 295-acre campus. The app walks users through stops on the standard campus tour, as well as others featuring campus trees, sustainability features, artwork and historic buildings.
Christine Thompson, an associate in Campus Planning and Real Estate, spearheaded an effort to fund the tours with a grant from the UO’s Finance and Administration division.
“We wanted to convey the beauty of campus in an innovative way to audiences around the world,” said Thompson. "We have a treasure trove of information about our special places, trees and sustainable features. I really hope we can build on our success in the app."
The mapping innovations showcased in UOregon earned the InfoGraphics Lab a number of major accolades, including Best Mobile App and Special Achievement in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) from Esri, the maker of widely used GIS software.
Faculty, staff and students in the InfoGraphics Lab consistently push the limits of mobile mapping technology. With UOregon, the team maps the interior of Knight Library.
“Interior mapping is the holy grail right now,” says Kato. “It’s where everybody wants to be. We can deliver room-level mobile mapping and location services for any building on campus with the data already in our system. Where we go from here — and where students can go with us — is pretty exciting."
About the University of Oregon
The University of Oregon is among the 108 institutions chosen from 4,633 U.S. universities for top-tier designation of "Very High Research Activity" in the 2010 Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. The UO also is one of two Pacific Northwest members of the Association of American Universities.
MEDIA CONTACT: Julie Brown, 541-346-3185, julbrown@uoregon.edu
SOURCE:Ken Kato, UO InfoGraphics Lab and geography department, 541-346-5810, kkato@uoregon.edu
Note: The University of Oregon is equipped with an on-campus television studio with satellite uplink capacity, and a radio studio with an ISDN phone line for broadcast-quality radio interviews.
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