Comment posted on Marine Blast aims to make Argyll and the Isles Scotland’s most digitally accessible area by Iain
Yes Mr Prawnitoff,
Good point raised as Kintyre is part of the most southern of areas in Argyll. We did look hard and fast at it before spliting the areas into two sections addding Mid argyll and Kintyre to the North App. The reason was mainly that we are trying to encourage travel and day trips or infact just exploring Argyll as a area. I think that people would be more encouraged to travel from Mid Argyll and Oban and Lorn to Kintyre as a day trip. Also if you where on holiday in Kintyre your day trip would I think be more likely to be to Oban than say Dunoon or Bute. the mapping features on the app we Think encourage travel within the areas. Also we can send out notifications to everyone that has downloaded the App, we didnt want North to get south information that was not local to them and vice vera. The information would be relevent to the areas as best we can.
It seemed better than moving the land around to fit the app.
Thanks for the feed back
Its for everyone, tourists visiting and locals finding services.
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Nice to notice the secret App on my phone is now being mentioned and promoted.
I congratulated the tourism chap earlier this year only to find this was a private initiative. Judging by some of the updates on my phone as the APP has evolved, appropriate tourist organisations have taken an active interest which can only be a good thing. I’d bet people going on holiday take their phones. . .
From a personal perspective, in addition to the tourism thing, I found it useful yesterday in sourcing a local joiner. Rather a lot of business’s are listed. Unlike ‘good old Yellow Pages’, my phone isn’t going to make a thump when it hits the bottom of a wheelie bin.
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Useful user feedback.
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To paraphrase the legendary Archie MacPherson, surely the inclusion of Kintyre in North Argyll must have caused a few eyebrows to shoot up like pistons?
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Yes Mr Prawnitoff,
Good point raised as Kintyre is part of the most southern of areas in Argyll. We did look hard and fast at it before spliting the areas into two sections addding Mid argyll and Kintyre to the North App. The reason was mainly that we are trying to encourage travel and day trips or infact just exploring Argyll as a area. I think that people would be more encouraged to travel from Mid Argyll and Oban and Lorn to Kintyre as a day trip. Also if you where on holiday in Kintyre your day trip would I think be more likely to be to Oban than say Dunoon or Bute. the mapping features on the app we Think encourage travel within the areas. Also we can send out notifications to everyone that has downloaded the App, we didnt want North to get south information that was not local to them and vice vera. The information would be relevent to the areas as best we can.
It seemed better than moving the land around to fit the app.
Thanks for the feed back
Its for everyone, tourists visiting and locals finding services.
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This isn’t a very convincing answer.
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Iain: ‘It seemed better than moving the land around to fit the app’ – unless I’m missing something that’s exactly what’s been done.
Why did Argyll & the Isles have to be split into two at all? Including Kintyre in Argyll North really is nonsensical, and I can’t help thinking that this sort of muddled logic is really unhelpful, and likely to cause great confusion to any visitor looking for Kintyre businesses.
The sheer lack of commonsense in this decision is really amazing.
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Hi Robert,
Thanks for the feedback. I thought that the answer to question two on why the area is set up in the way it is would have been explained in my previous post however I’ll try and explain in more depth.
We have been developing these apps for the past 18 months. Part of this development included canvassing the views of business owners, customers and two MPs. We asked them, as a representative area focus group, what they thought would work to best encourage tourism, business and community in the areas.
Overwhelming opinion was that one app would just be too big. To include every business in the Argyll and Isles area would inevitably mean that some would be passed over and we wanted the app to be meaningful – we wanted businesses to really benefit from it. We know we have an area with many small and diverse businesses and I believe that we got the split right. Both areas are very different and we wanted to reflect their unique attributes.
Most people canvassed said that including Kintyre in the North App would only benefit the area as it gives information about what’s happening down the coast, within driving distance of Oban. It also allows users to, for example, pre-plan weekend or longer breaks around activities. So, for example, if you have someone interested in a wildlife holiday or sailing break they can choose activities from the entire Atlantic coast from Oban to Campbeltown (and of course the islands) without having to download both apps. You are also told, before download on either iTunes or our website, what areas are covered.
The apps are designed not just for organising activities while you’re here. They’re designed for pre- holiday so you can choose what to do, where to stay or make a list of things you want to do while you’re here. Obviously while you’re here on holiday they’re invaluable for local information and as a what’s on guide. But crucially the apps also allow you to share your experiences and information with your friends on Twitter and Facebook before, during and after your visit.
I hope that, if you haven’t already, you download the apps and see for yourself just how we’re trying to make Argyll and the Isles digitally accessible.
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I can see your problem but repeat my condemnation – I’m very surprised that overwhelming opinion was that one app would be too big, given the clear advantages of not having to create artificial boundaries and, presumably, overlaps. I wonder if your focus groups and canvassing have ‘led you up the garden path’, and represent the majority view of Oban and Dunoon and their surrounding areas, at the expense of Kintyre? The point that the apps are designed for pre-holiday use makes me wonder how many people will fail to locate any information on Kintyre because they’re sufficiently clued-up to know full well it’s not in north Argyll, and so wouldn’t refer to the north Argyll app, but would draw a blank with the south Argyll app. Accuse me of prejudice, but I think that this is a clear case of the medium taking precedence over the message, with results that are not just idiotic but liable to damage the very businesses that it’s designed to serve.
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If we could get a ‘phone signal then I might find this of use…. does sound like a great app tho’
Congrats.
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Aye, good point.
Doesn’t ‘digital accessibility’ include mobile phone communications? Isn’t this just as important, especially for local businesses, visitors and tourists?
Seil is a community of over 500 that, while it has broadband, has no reliable mobile phone signal. It seems there is no intention of doing anything about it in the forseeable future either, in spite of complaints by the emergency services that it hampers their communications when they are operating in the area.
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