Recently, IITS had the opportunity to work with a group of U of T Scarborough Co-op students and interns engaged in the development of a mobile application to highlight the features and history of the Rouge National Urban Park, located in Toronto.
This application, developed as part of a formal partnership between U of T Scarborough and Parks Canada, offers visitors to the Rouge Park content including photos, descriptions, and historical records of areas throughout the park, along with information about trails and specific points of interest. It also provides visitors with the ability to track their own progress as they explore the park and to report potential issues.
Working with the student development team and Gray Graffam, Director of The Hub, UTSC's center for innovation and entrepreneurship, IITS supported this application through the development of a content management system to host all of the content to be displayed through the application. Accessed by the application through a web service, this content can be easily edited and added to over time through a user-friendly interface. This ease of access to manage the content will help to sustain the application over time and allow for either Parks Canada or UTSC resources to keep the content up to date and accurate, regardless of their technical skill.
The Rouge Park application launched in the fall of 2017 and is available for both the iOS and Android platforms.
This project is a good example of how IITS supports innovation on the U of T Scarborough campus and is able to provide assistance and technical guidance to student-lead initiatives undertaken within a supported framework for integrated learning experience (Arts & Science Co-op; Masters of Environmental Science Internship; and The Hub).