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Presented by Lauren Swann
Tuesday 14th August 2018
Nibbles from 6.30pm. Presentation 7.00pm (approx.)
Basement on View
50 View St, Bendigo VIC 3550
This presentation will focus on Geotourism in Victoria, looking at existing open-source geosite apps and websites, the scope for geotrails in Victoria, how we as a state are falling behind in the promotion of Geotourism and a suggestion of how we can reverse this trend through the incorporation of digital technologies.
Victoria has an extremely diverse range of geological attractions visited by numerous tourists, bushwalkers, students and locals each year. These visitors, however, are not armed with the interpretative information to comprehend them. These sites have usually been extensively mapped and studied by government survey organisations, universities and museums. However, this content has not been readily accessible to the public.
For many geologically interesting sites, pamphlets may have been created by special interest groups such as The Field Naturalists Club of Victoria and distributed to the local information centres. Some sites may even have an interactive map and panels to geosite features, however they are not immediately obvious from main roads or advertised through any other media. These are not alone sufficient in this age of new technologies, including: apps, QR Codes, online interactive maps and web pages, to promote geological sites as a form of education and tourism.
The purpose of Lauren’s ‘Weekend Geology’ website is to remove these technological barriers to tourists and locals, often visiting these sites on weekends, to allow them to increase their understanding and appreciation of geology in the field – the natural laboratory of geoscience – through self-guided field trips. Other digital platforms – many opensource – are emerging in the Geo Tourism arena, including applications: Rock.d, NSWGeoTours App, Flyover Country and the Geotourism Brisbane App.
Lauren completed her Bachelor of Science (Honours) in geology at Monash University in mid-2016. She has since been working as a geologist at Fosterville Gold Mine in Victoria. In her free-time she develops self-guided geological field trips at a range of sites in Victoria and Tasmania. She first developed an interest in geotourism at university, on field trips and volunteering at the Melbourne Museum on fossil digs as well as a gallery explainer. A passion which she has continued, becoming involved in projects such as the tourist gold mine Central Deborah in Bendigo.
To support our Victorian Branch and ongoing future events we kindly ask for a small admission fee from our attendees – $10 AIG Members, $15 Non-Members, Students Free.
AIG Victoria will supply nibbles.
Rodney Boucher – rodney@linex.com.au
Steven Williamson – steve@stevenwilliamson.com.au
