Share your plant collection with the public Overview Garden Explorer is a web-based search and presentation solution for garden collections. This module can be accessed by the public using a web browser on a PC, tablet computer or Smartphone. It can also be used as a kiosk-solution in the garden. IrisBG Garden Explorer has been tested on the most widely used web browsers and does not rely on additional installation of browser plugins.

IrisBG Garden Explorer has been designed with 3 key aspects in mind:

• Usability - A person without a GIS or Computer background is able to use the Garden Explorer without difficulties.
• Performance - The module is designed to perform well, even under low bandwidth conditions.
• Flexibility - IrisBG Garden Explorer will adapt to the user's web browser (PC, Laptop, Tablet or Smartphone).

Try out a live installation of the Garden Explorer from the Botanical Garden of Oslo, Norway.

User experience

• You can enhance the visitor experience by using QR Coded plant labels. The visitor can scan the QR code with a smartphone and Garden Explorer will show details about the taxon and other relevant information. For more details about IrisBG QR code integration, we recommend you read the article on our blog, Getting started with QR Codes in your garden.
• New April 2012! Support for GPS enabled smartphones. Visitors with a GPS enabled smartphone such as iPhone or Android can pinpoint their location on the map, making it easier to find their way around in the garden.
• Multiple search criteria are supported such as the scientific or common names of plants, plant family, location in the garden, country of collection and distribution.
• For each taxon, information about family, distribution and flowering period is given.
• The locations of a taxon in the garden are shown both on a map and in a list.
• For each location, both pictures and a description of the area can be viewed.
• The user interface language will adapt to the browser language of the user, or can be changed manually by the user. Currently we support English (default), French, Dutch and Norwegian. New languages will be added upon request.
• To make it easier for novice users, zooming and panning in the map are not included in our installation at the Botanical Garden in Oslo. Zooming and panning can be enabled if required. Feel free to try out examples where zooming and panning is enabled.
  • Zooming and panning enabled using a custom garden map (Esri ArcGis).
  • Zooming and panning enabled with map provided by Google.

Technical features

• The Garden Explorer is designed to work well on desktop browser, tablets as well as on modern smartphones such as iPhone, Android and Windows Phone.
• High performance.
• The Garden Explorer content is designed to be indexed by internet search engines. This will enable visitors to find the plants in your collection using search engines such as Google and Bing. Website traffic statistics for the Botanical Garden of Oslo in October/November 2011, show us that 57% of all visits are generated through an external search engine.
• The appearance of the user interface can easily be configured to appear as an integral part of your own website.
• The solution is fully integrated with IrisBG for simple data management and uploading data through a web service.
• A wide range of map types are supported by IrisBG Garden Explorer. These include:
  • Your own maps (hosted on a VMS server).
  • Maps supplied by internet map providers such as Bing, Google and OpenStreetMap.
  • Map illustrations and drawings. Please note that Garden Explorer does not support zooming or panning for map illustrations.

Architecture and requirements

The Garden Explorer module is built with Microsoft ASP.NET 2.0 and Ajax and runs on Microsoft Internet Information Services.

Download the Garden Explorer product sheet.