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WGC Heritage Trust Digital Town Trail

You can now follow WGC's Heritage Town Trail using just your smartphone (or internet connected tablet).

There's no need for maps or guides just scan our QR Codes with your phone and you'll see the history of that location and information on how to get to the next location.  It's that simple.

You actually can start anywhere you can spot a QR code cool, but most people will start at Number 1 which is located just outside the Howard Centre. It's on your left as you exit the Howard Centre's main entrance on a lampost in the grassy area (look for a plaque similar to the one pictured above). Full information on how to get started is on the plaque, or read on for full details...

The system, developed by the Welwyn Garden City Heritage Trust, uses well tried existing technology in a completely new way. Users with smart phones will now have access to the Trust’s Town Centre Trail simply by scanning the QR codes on specially designed signs mounted on lamp posts. The system has been designed to work with iPhone, Android, Windows, Blackberry and Amazon Kindle mobiles and Internet enabled tablets. To scan the QR codes the system uses any one of a number of freely downloadable apps that will read the code on each sign and immediately link the phone to the Trust’s Towntrail website (http://towntrail.welwyngarden-heritage.org). As each sign has a unique code you will be connected directly to information about the history of that location.

To ensure you get immediate access each QR sign provides a link for obtaining a suitable QR Code Reader. Simply by typing goo.gl/kvYDSY (written on each sign) into the browser of your phone a list of apps that we have checked work will be displayed. Download your choice of app from the list and you can start using the Trail immediately. As far as research by the Trust has shown the system is not in use anywhere else in the UK and so gives Welwyn Garden City a ‘Digital First’.

In the future the Trust plans to offer sound and video in addition to the already provided text and photos to enrich your experience. A similar system will be installed in Peartree as soon as possible given how important that area was and still is to the town.