Exploring the World, One App at a Time

Thanks to a locally devised and produced Android and iPhone application, sightseeing with your kids will never be the same. On a trip to Europe last summer, Mitch Zamoff asked his three kids to share their favorite part about Rome.
   
“They told me it was the gelato they had,” Zamoff chuckles. “My wife and I looked at each other and thought, we could have done that at the Dairy Queen.”
   
That’s when Zamoff knew he had to do something. On his return to Minnesota, Zamoff, along with three business partners, began building an app that encourages kids to soak up knowledge about historic sites and museums as part of a game to save the world from evil aliens. The app works with the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, as well as museums across the country and world, including in London, Paris and Rome.
   
Zamoff used Edina residents, teachers and students—and his own kids—to help him test the app. “My kids really enjoy it,” he says. “They say it’s the first thing Dad’s ever done that’s been interesting or cool.” Zamoff hopes to create more apps that focus on travel and education.