FORTE CULTURA is pleased to welcome SmartGuide as a new digital partner for the European Cultural Route of Fortified Monuments. SmartGuide is a mobile-first platform that helps destinations, museums, tourist attractions and heritage sites turn every visitor’s smartphone into a personal digital guide. For fortresses, fortified towns, bastions, bunkers and complex historic landscapes, this opens up new opportunities to share stories, improve orientation and make cultural heritage accessible to international audiences.

Why SmartGuide?

SmartGuide provides a ready-made digital guide solution that can replace or complement printed brochures, static signage and traditional audio guide systems. Visitors can explore independently, at their own pace and in their preferred language, while site managers can update content efficiently and gain insights into visitor behaviour.

• Self-guided audio tours for visitors on their own phones.
• Digital guides in up to 30 languages, supported by AI translation and multilingual audio.
• Offline maps, itineraries and location-based storytelling that help visitors navigate extensive fortress areas.
• Rich media options including text, photos, audio, video and augmented reality experiences.
• No dedicated hardware required, reducing maintenance, charging and rental logistics.
• Analytics and heatmaps that support smarter destination management and a better understanding of visitor flows.

Avantages pour les gestionnaires de fortune

Fortified heritage sites often combine large outdoor areas, layered history, hidden routes, multiple entrances and sensitive visitor management needs. SmartGuide can help fortress managers present these complex places in a clear, attractive and sustainable way. Content can be created and updated without developing a separate app, while visitors benefit from flexible access to stories, routes and practical information directly on their mobile devices.

• Easy setup and updates: destinations can publish and maintain digital guide content through an existing platform.
• International reach: multilingual content helps welcome visitors from across Europe and beyond.
• Better orientation: maps and routes support discovery of extensive fortress layouts, including ramparts, courtyards, museums, tunnels and viewpoints.
• Sustainable communication: digital information can reduce reliance on printed materials and make updates faster.
• More engaging interpretation: audio storytelling, images, video and immersive media can bring military architecture, engineering, daily life and cultural transformation to life.
• Data-based decisions: aggregated visitor insights can help improve routes, exhibitions, signage, services and marketing.

A Strong Fit for Fortresses for Culture and Peace

FORTE CULTURA connects fortified monuments across Europe through a shared narrative of history, architecture, engineering, memory and contemporary cultural life. SmartGuide supports this mission by making complex heritage easier to explore and understand. It helps former places of defence become more accessible places of culture, learning, dialogue and sustainable tourism.

Invitation to FORTE CULTURA Members

FORTE CULTURA members are invited to explore how SmartGuide can support their visitor experience, interpretation strategy and digital communication. A dedicated webinar, “How forts can bring history to life on visitors’ phones”, offers an opportunity to learn more about the platform, ask questions and discuss possible applications for fortress sites within the network.

Prochaines étapes

• Regarder la full recording of our webinar with SmartGuide: Lien YouTube (ou faire défiler vers le bas).
• Visitez le site officiel : smartguide.app.
• Contact us if you are interested in implementing SmartGuide at your site—we strongly recommend it as a valuable step toward digital transformation and better visitor engagement.
• Demander une démonstration gratuite: SmartGuide is available to prepare a personalized demo for all interested FORTE CULTURA members, showing exactly how the platform could work for your fortress.