Best App to Download for VKfest

This weekend, the long awaited VKfest is coming up in St. Petersburg. Such a huge event with many interesting things to see and not enough time to see it all, requires of attendees to make some difficult choices. To facilitate this challenge, PhD Students at ITMO University, Egor Eremeev and Pavel Burak, have been developing a special free app “GoFest” for the last two years designed to simplify the decision-making process. Using the technology and team from the InNavi project, this app helps attendees navigate through VKfest. Last year, the app offered an interactive map of the event including all the most unknown and noteworthy locations. This year, however, “GoFest” has been made in the form of quest, visitors explore the area and get a prize upon successful completion of a given task. It’s designed for users you like memes and have a good sense of humor.

«As in the previous year, the app is available for all the users with smartphones and tablets using iOS. The app is downloadable in the AppStore. It’s easy to download and doesn’t take up a lot of space which is very good for the Open Air format. And the main bonus is the quest inside. “GoFest” gives you a chance to visit the most interesting places and areas of the festival. After finding the location one is looking for, the user receives all the necessary information associated with it and then receives the next assignment. Once the quest is complete, you can review a memorable reward at the InNavi stand in ITMO University’s area” – Pavel Burak says.

According to developers, the app will be easy to use and understandable for all ages, but the target audience is students, of course. For those guests who don’t know about the app beforehand they will be able to find out about it and download “GoFest” during the event. In the ITMO University area guests will be able to find a special black sign showing “Download GoFest, got through the quest and get a prize!”

After going through the whole quest and getting the prize, the app doesn’t become useless. In the “GoFest” app users will be able to find the list of events at the festival so they can plan their day in advance.

The technology for this app is based on InNavi which is an interactive navigation system developed by ITMO University graduates. This system is used for navigation inside universities (including ITMO U), shopping centers and other buildings where visitors can have some difficulties with orientation. Last spring several graduates of ITMO University’s Future Technologies Accelerator (including InNavi) won large grants from the “Start” program.

Best App to Download for VKfest

Polina Poleshchuk