Mobile apps as guides to national parks and regional natural resources continue to gain in both number and popularity.
Joining the list this week is the new – and free – iPhone app (iTunes link) courtesy of the Indiana Department of Natural Resources. “People who enjoy any of the DNR’s wide variety of properties across Indiana and own an iPhone can benefit from the new mobile application,” Indiana’s DNR says, adding that applications for Blackberry and Android phones are similarly under development.
The DNR iPhone app provides virtually all the information needed when planning an outdoor activity at one of these sites, the Hoosier DNR says. Covered properties include fish and wildlife areas, forests, historic sites, state park inns, and nature preserves, as well as 24 state parks and eight reservoirs.
“Indiana has a great wealth of natural and cultural resources, and we are always looking for new ways to connect Hoosiers to those resources,” said Dan Bortner, director of the DNR Division of State Parks and Reservoirs. “We’re glad to be a part of DNR’s efforts to use today’s technology.”
The Indiana DNR iPhone application features:
- Location mapping for state parks, where to hunt or fish, and additional properties of interest
- Distances to park or fishing/hunting areas in relation to the user’s current location
- Fees and regulations for all state properties and outdoor recreation sites
- Links to camping or state park inn reservation sites
- Links to fishing or hunting license purchasing sites
- Reserved hunt registration
- Nature brochures and Indiana fishing species guide
- RSS feeds of Indiana DNR news
- Links to Indiana DNR websites
DNR director of communications Phil Bloom said this is one more example of the many options of staying informed about DNR activities. “We live in an increasingly mobile society in which people have a variety of ways to gather the information they need,” he said. “This continues DNR’s effort to stay connected with our customers and for our customers to stay connected to us.”