A visitor trail in QR codes, point by point

An object label, a plaque on a façade, a marker post beside a footpath: the QR code opens up what won't fit on the sign. A longer text, archive photos, a version in another language, an audio commentary published on your website. For a trail of twenty or two hundred points, the question becomes mostly practical: creating the codes, keeping them up to date and knowing which ones get used. This page describes a method with Scanolo, designed around the Pro plan.

What to put behind each point

Each point on the trail gets its own dynamic code, which leads to the content of your choice and can switch to something else at any time.

Scanolo doesn't host audio or video and has no built-in player. For an audio guide, the code points to the file or page where the recording is already published.

• A page on your website, if the content already lives there.
• A PDF we host: a notice, a map, archive photos, up to 5 MB per file.
• A link page: a title, a short text, an image, then buttons for languages, audio or video.
• An audio file or a video published elsewhere, given by its web address.

Creating codes in bulk

Prepare a CSV file with three columns: name for the point's name, url for the destination address, folder for the folder, such as the trail's name. The Pro plan import creates up to 500 codes in one go and returns a ZIP file with a PNG image of each code and a summary of their short addresses.

The import creates codes that redirect to a web address, which works when your content is online. PDF and link page codes are created one at a time in the app.

Every destination can be changed afterwards. A rewritten text, a page moved during a website redesign, a temporary exhibition taking over a room: you change the destination and leave the plaque alone.

Making and installing the signs

A label read from 40 cm needs a code of 3 to 4 cm. A wall plaque or a marker post read from one or two metres, 10 to 20 cm. For your printer or engraver, export each code as SVG or vector PDF, both of which scale up without losing quality.

Outdoors, the contrast has to survive sun and years of weather: dark modules on a light background, a white margin, a matt material. Install a prototype on site and test it in daylight with two phones before ordering the full run.

• A line next to the code, such as “Scan for the story of this place”.
• The stop number, so people can find their way on the trail map.
• A mounting height everyone can reach, wheelchair users included.
• A 4G loading test on site, because coverage varies a lot at remote locations.

Seeing which points get scanned, and working as a team

Each code has its own statistics: scans and unique visitors per day, country, device type, time. Along a trail, comparing one stop with the next shows where visitors drop off and which points might be better placed elsewhere. The Pro plan keeps three years of history, enough to compare two seasons.

The Pro plan, at €19 excl. VAT a month, has what a trail needs: 250 codes, CSV import, folders and three members, for instance collections, learning and front of house. For a network of sites, the Business plan at €49 excl. VAT goes up to 1,000 codes and ten members.

Frequently asked questions