Ticketing, staff apps and a geolocated audio guide for a ferry operator

The challenge

A ferry company serving several tourist lines wanted to sell more online, simplify work on the docks and give passengers a reason to keep the phone in hand during the trip: a guide that tells the story of the coast as the boat goes by, in the passenger's own language.

What we built

Since 2023 we have designed and maintained the whole ecosystem: apps, web and back-office, all on the same platform.

Geolocated audio guide

The heart of the passenger app (iOS and Android, built in Flutter).

• Every stop of the guide is a point on the map with its own trigger radius: when the boat enters the area, the matching track starts
• A live map with all points of interest and the passenger's position, plus a list of tracks grouped by line
• Offline download of tracks, so the guide keeps working at sea without coverage
• Audio and text guide in 5 languages (Italian, English, French, German, Spanish)
• Tracks managed from the back-office: position, radius, playback order and translations for each line, without publishing a new app

Passenger app

Besides the guide: timetable search, ticket activation with QR code, and push notifications for timetable changes and cancellations.

Online shop and back-office

Ticket sales with online payment and PDF tickets, plus a back-office to manage lines, timetables, closures, orders, translations and audio guide content.

Staff apps

• Ticket validation: an app that scans QR codes at boarding
• Sales and printing: tickets sold on the dock with Bluetooth thermal printing, B2B orders, takings and expenses, synced with the central platform

Outcome

Online shop, docks and passengers now work on the same data. The audio guide turns the crossing into a guided tour, and the operator updates content and translations on their own, without going through the app stores.