A virtual tour of Galway Bay, above and below the waves, is among the features in a newly launched educational app which allows users to discover the marine environment.
SeaScience, developed by the Ryan Institute at NUI Galway in partnership with Galway City Museum, was designed as a companion for the SeaScience exhibition, permanently housed in the Galway City Museum, and provides the visitor with a virtually guided tour of the exhibits. It can also be used independently without having to physically visit the museum.
The app interactively encourages users to learn about the marine environment by teaching in a fun way using text, audio, and video content about the value and benefits of the oceans to all life on the planet. Some of the topics covered include marine pollution, the generation of renewable electricity from the sea, marine zoology, the sounds of the ocean, and effects of climate change on marine environments.
“The SeaScience app can be used by adults or children all over the world," said Professor Colin Brown, director of the Ryan Institute. "It’s a wonderful classroom resource and showcases the internationally recognised work of our researchers across disciplines as disparate as civil engineering, earth and ocean science, physics, information and communication technology, modelling, and zoology. All of these disciplines worked closely together to produce the content for app.”
Professor Brown spearheaded the creation of the SeaScience exhibition and the development of the app with Galway City Museum. “The SeaScience app also provides a virtual tour of Galway Bay above and below the waves," he added. "It really shines the spotlight on the city of Galway, its people and their relationship with the sea.”
Eithne Verling, director of Galway City Museum, said: “We are delighted to have had the opportunity of working with the Ryan Institute on this project. Our Sea Science exhibition is extremely popular with all our visitors — it gives people a great understanding of the richness and value of Galway Bay and the Atlantic Ocean.”
The app was designed by Gerald Glynn of Gesture Media and is designed to work across all platforms. It is free to download from the Apple app store and will be available shortly in the Google Play store for Android — just search for “sea science”.
