Golden Gate Bridge: Happy 75th birthday and there’s an app for that
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Want to say happy birthday to the Golden Gate Bridge? There’s an app for that.
OK, not quite, but the National Parks Conservancy had a free GoGGBridge app created to help celebrate the big day. (An Android version is to be released before the bridge’s birthday on Sunday.) Here are some of its fine points and some of its lesser points.
--A tap of the finger can make you a GG Bridge expert. The Nuts & Bolts facts include the bridge’s length (1.7 miles long), weight (887,000 tons) and the number of rivets in each tower (600,000). Categories include: “Plan Your Trip” (with info on tours, photos and exhibits, hiking, etc.), “Explore the Bridge” (with facts, a timeline and videos of bridge workers) and “True Tales” (including lost audio taped interviews with people who built the bridge). Bridge Fun allows you to paint the bridge yellow and black with your finger (in the colors the Navy originally wanted) and listen to a foghorn. Bridging a National Park lets you meet a park ranger named Jose who reveals that the Golden Gate National Recreation Area spans more than 80,000 acres.
--Integration with GoogleMaps is the main thing I miss in this fun, interactive, educational app. Finger painting the bridge yellow and black made me wonder if a future update might allow me to superimpose a photo from my iPhoneonto the bridge (to give me a preview of the Bridge Photo Experience at the Round House that uses green screen technology).
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