Mobile Apps

Whether you’re looking for a new cafe to try, an IMAX film to see, or a fun garden to explore with your kids, free Balboa Park mobile apps can lead the way. Or do something completely different and try Giskin Anomaly, our parkwide cellphone adventure game.

Balboa Park on Meridian

Compatible with iPhones, iPads, iPod Touch devices & Android-powered devices.

Search for "Meridian" in the App Store or Android Market to download the Balboa Park guide on the feature-rich Meridian platform. The app offers:

• Turn-by-turn directions to events and places throughout the 1,200-acre Park
• Event listings by category and venue
• Restaurant listings by budget and taste
• Attractions guide for more than 80 points of interest

Inside of Meridian you will also find location-aware guides to other cultural destinations around the country, such as the Portland Art Museum.

Balboa Park iPhone App

Compatible with iPhones, iPads, and iPod Touch devices.

There is also a second official Balboa Park app available through the App Store. Unlike the Meridian guide, this app is only available for iOS devices and features only Balboa Park content. Like the Meridian app, it features a daily event guide and information about all museums, gardens, restaurants, and other Park attractions.

If you have an iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch, you can find the app by searching for “Balboa Park" in the App Store. It currently has a 4-star average rating from about 100 users.

“This is BY FAR the best designed app I have ever seen in this category. It is impeccably put together, with obvious attention to detail, whether it be technical, organization, navigation, art and fonts, etc. One can tell it was checked over with a fine-toothed comb before it was released, which is unfortunately a rarity.” – Blog comment (11/19/2010)

George Inness for iPad

Compatible with iPad. Requires iOS 4.3 or later.

The Timken Museum of Art in Balboa Park has released an iPad application featuring the works of 19th century painter George Inness. Users can zoom into the images to examine the details of his beautiful European landscape paintings. Favorite images can also be posted to Facebook or shared via email.

Free to download, the app is the Timken’s first offering in the mobile sphere and the first iPad app that a Balboa Park institution has launched. To develop the app, the Timken worked with the Balboa Park Online Collaborative and ArtFinder, a project that provides access to paintings from artists, galleries, museums, and collections around the world.

Giskin Anomaly

Can be accessed via any traditional cellphone.

Two people have stumbled upon a technology that detects “thought imprints” that have become hidden in the Balboa Park landscape. This is the intriguing premise of Giskin Anomaly, an innovative and immersive cell phone adventure presented by the Balboa Park Online Collaborative. With any cellphone, a visitor to the park can call the game's 800-number – 877-737-3132 – and walk in their footsteps as the characters Drake and Pandora unravel a mystery that dates from World War Two.

The adventure leads visitors to orange and white markers placed in different areas of the 1,200-acre park. Each stake includes a phone number and 3-digit code that visitors can use to hear conversations between the two main characters, Drake and Pandora, and hear tips as to where the next stake is placed. 

To start the game at the beginning, look for the Giskin window decal on the Old Globe Theater ticket window. The game consists of seven episodes, each containing one marker on a cultural institution and four ground markers (orange and white stakes). Each episode takes about 30 minutes to complete.

Adventure in an Alternate Reality
In the alternate reality of Giskin Anomaly, two people each hold half the solution to hearing thoughts from the past. Pandora inherited the Detector invented by Erhard Giskin, and Drake has the Decoder he started developing for Erhard before Erhard passed away. Pandora and Drake do not trust each other and thus communicate entirely by voicemail.

Through its immersive narrative, Giskin Anomaly brings the rich history of Balboa Park into sharp focus.

“A new way to see the park takes one back in time while testing one’s detective skills in a cell-phone adventure game that’s part scavenger hunt, part information, part half-hour easy walk and wholly entertaining.” – San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial Board (12/4/2010)