Tips for Project Planning

Tips for Planning your Project

A Q3 Ranger system is a highly cost-effective, capital investment. You are purchasing unique, sophisticated, cutting edge technology backed up by considerable expertise, which will help you to compete successfully in this 21st Century world. With Q3 Rangers, you can attract more visitors and increase customer satisfaction without having to increase your staff costs. You can also relieve staff of repetitive duties and divert them to other tasks. Advertising and device hiring revenues, together with increased visitor footfall in visitor centre shops and restaurants will also generate income to offset your capital outlay.

It is worth noting that in the case of community projects, project funding can be sought from grant-giving bodies. For example, a Q3 Ranger system could be an eligible capital cost for certain programmes in the UK’s Big Lottery and Heritage Lottery funds.

Q3 Ranger System

Each Q3 Ranger installation is different and the costs therefore vary accordingly. In order for us to provide you with a quote for a Q3 Ranger system, we need as much of the following information as possible:

1) The approximate extent of the project area to be covered. Some grid references would also be very useful.

2) Whether user directions and route guidance will be needed, or if users will simply roam freely.

3) The number and approximate length of any designated route(s) and an estimate of the number of location/information GPS hotspots likely to be needed.

4) Additional modules which you might like included in your system

(e.g. webcams).

5. Specification of the type and amount of content which we would be asked to provide, if any.

5) The number and size of Q3 Ranger devices e.g. for individual or group use.

The cost for a Q3 Ranger system excluding content and devices is from £15,000. Remember that content is likely to be your largest cost.

Content

Production of the information content to be displayed by the Q3 Rangers represents by far the most time-consuming and therefore costly element in any multimedia interpretation project. You should reckon on about two-thirds of your budget being spent on the production of content (irrespective of whether we produce the content for you or whether you employ your own designers).

The calibre of the content displayed on your Q3 Rangers will determine the quality of your visitors’ experience and the success of your project.

You should aim for the content to direct and focus people’s attention outwards to the relevant features of your site. The content should enhance, immerse and involve them in their outdoor experience, rather than simply being a presentation which they could equally well have watched on their television at home.

Scale

Although the Q3 Ranger system works well in areas of any size, if you have a limited budget, it may be better to start small (perhaps with a pilot project) and to produce world class content, than to try and do everything at once and end up with a mediocre result. Once you have a great user experience in place as a showcase, it becomes much easier to access further funding for expanding your system. The modular nature of the Q3 Ranger system means that this can be done at any time.

Need help with project planning? We can provide assistance.

Consultancy

A Q3 Ranger system is made up of three separate cost components.

1. The devices on which the Q3 Ranger system will run.

2. The commissioning and installation of the Q3 Ranger system architecture on the devices, together with the GPS mapping and necessary programming for your site.

3. The production of the actual content which will be displayed on the devices. This can be done by you, by us or a combination of the two.

Devices

The Q3 Ranger system can be commissioned on a wide range of hand-held devices which use Microsoft operating systems. This means that customers are not tied to a bespoke device and have flexibility of hardware choice, as well as options for upgrading over time.

The cost of individual devices ranges from about £450 for a PDA sized device, up to about £3,000 for a military grade XP tablet PC suitable for group use. There are many price options in between depending on factors such as screen size/quality, degree of protection and additional features such as an integrated mobile phone for 3G data connection and live logging.

We can advise on suitable devices, together with peripherals such as secure storage, to meet your individual requirements .